
Class. 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



BORDER WARFARE IN 

PENNSYLVANIA ^^^ 



DURING THE 
REVOLUTION 



Fresented to the Faculty of the University 
of Fenjisylvania 

By LEWIS S. SHIMMELL 

In Fartial Fulfillment of the Fequirements of 
Doctor of Fhilosophy 



Harrisbukg, Pa, 

R. L. MvERS & Company 

1901 



^iT 



Copyright 1901 

BY 

I^. S. Shimmell 



1£ 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 
I. A War for Territory 1-4 

II. Management of Indian Affairs. 

1. In the Colonies 4-6 

2. In Pennsylvania 6-8 

III. Indian Difficulties in Pennsylvania before the 

Revolution. 

1. Pearliest Disputes, 1722-1737 8-12 

2. The Walking- Purchase 12-14 

3. In the Juniata Valley 14-17 

4. The Albany Purchase 17-20 

5. The Fort Stanwix Purchase 20-21 

IV. British Intrigues with the Indians, 1774-1775. 

1. L<ord Dunmore and Dr. Connelly's Plot 21-27 

2. British Indian Agents 27-29 

V. Alliances with the Indians. 

1. Instructions from the English Ministry... 29-32 

2. Action of the Continental Congress 32-36 

VI. British and American Experience with the In- 
dians as Allies 36-39 

VII. Conditions Adverse to Defense. 

1. Extent of Frontiers 39-40 

2. Territorial Disputes 40-41 

3. Diversity of Political and Religious Opin- 

ion 42-44 

VIII. The Militia. 

1. In Colonial Times 45-46 

2. From 1775-1777 46-48 

3. The lyaw of 1777 48-51 



IX. In the Year 1775* 51-53 

1. Around Fort Pitt. 

2. On the West Branch. 

3. On the North Branch. 

4. In the Delaware Valley. 

X. In the Year 1776 54-68 

XL In the Year 1777 69-81 

XII. In the Year 1778 82-103 

XIII. In the Year 1779 104-116 

XIV. In the Year 1780 116-121 

XV. In the Year 1781 122-132 

XVI. In the Year 1782 133-139 

XVII. In the Year 1783. 

1. Savages Renew Hostilities 142 

2. Peace Measures by Congress 143-144 

XVIII. In the Year 1784-85. 

1. Peace Commissioners Finally Act 145-149 

2. Pennsylvania's Commission 150 

XIX. The Beginning of "the Winning of the West"... 151-153 



*NoTE,— In the treatment of the Border Warfare on the subsequent pages, 
the same geographical ontline has been follo"vred each year as is found in the 
year 1775. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania 
during the Revolution. 

WHETHER the English Colonies in America would 
have escaped the horrors of two decades of border 
warfare, had not the royal arms of France been nailed to 
trees in the Ohio Valley nor the monogram of King George 
been pasted on Colonial documents of business, is of course 
problematical. It is especially so in Pennsylvania, where 
Indian wars had been unknown before the middle of the 
1 8th century. Yet it is fair to presume that the one great 
cause of Indian hostility everywhere — extension of white 
settlements — would have brought the tomahawk and 
scalping knife to the frontier of Pennsylvania had there 
been no French or Revolutionary War. It is true, the 
French incited the Indians to aggression after the peace 
of Aix la Chapelle ; but those intrigues succeeded by rea- 
son of the hope held out that the hunting grounds usurped 
by the English should be restored. While Christian Fred- 
erick Post was on his mission, 1758, of withdrawing the 
Ohio Indians from the French interest, the chiefs said to 
him at Fort Duquesne^ : 

"Before you came they had all agreed tog-ether to g-o and 
join the French, but since they have seen you they all draw 
back, tho' we have great reason to believe you intend to drive 
us away and settle tlie country, or else why do you come to fig^ht 
in the land that God has given us." 

Post replied that the English did not intend to take the 
land from them , but only to drive the French away. They 
said they knew better ; that they were informed so by one 

1 Thompson's Alienation of the Indians, p. 153-154. 



2 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

of the greatest English traders and some justices of the 
peace ; and that the French told them much the same 
thing, namely : 

" That the English intend to destroy us and take our lands 
from us, but that they are come only to defend us and our lands." 

The chiefs further said to Post : 

'* 'Tis plain that you white people are the cause of this war ; 
why don't you and the French figrht in the old country, and on 
the sea ? Why do you come to fight on our land ? This makes 
everybody believe you want to take the land from us by force, 
and settle it." 

If Other evidence were needed to prove that the In- 
dians allied themselves with the French after 1750, largely 
because they hoped thereby to repress the tide of English 
occupation beyond the Alleghenies, it could be found in 
Pontiac's conspiracy. Pontiac's conspiracy had various 
causes^ ; but what contributed most to the growing dis- 
content after the French were defeated in America, was 
the Indian belief that the English would cut them off 
entirely and possess themselves of their country.'^ The 
Delawares and the Shawanese, the ancient friends of Wil- 
liam Penn, in particular, had been roused to the highest 
pitch of exasperation by the white settlements fast extend- 
ing up the Susquehanna and to the Alleghenies, eating 
away the forest like a spreading canker. The Yankees 
from Connecticut, by their threatened occupation of the 
Wyoming Valley, gave great umbrage to the Six Nations. ^ 
The erection of the frontier forts had given offense, too, 
and the Six Nations asked to have them pulled down, and 
kicked out of the way. ^ At a conference in Philadelphia, 
August, 1761, an Iroquois Sachem said : 



1 " Ponteach " in Appendix B, Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

2 Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, p. 156. 

3 Minutes of the Conference of the Six Nations at Hartford, 1763. 

4 Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, p. 157. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 3 

'• We, your brethren of the Six Nations, are penned up like 
hogs. There are forts all around us, and, therefore, we are ap- 
prehensive that death is coming- upon us." * 

Pontiac's war was a struggle of life and death. ^ The 
English were to be defeated and the way stopped, so that 
they could not return upon the Indians' land. The en- 
croachment upon his lands was always uppermost in the 
Red Man's mind when he thought of going on the war 
path against the English ; and no doubt the scalping-knife, 
the tomahawk and the firebrand would have brought terror 
and suffering to the frontier of Pennsylvania if the wily 
Frenchman had not egged the Indian on, and made him 
his ally during ten long years of border warfare. 

I,ord Dunmore's war, in 1774, again, points to the 
probability that the frontiersmen would have had to fight 
for their lives and homes once more, if the American Colo- 
nies had not revolted against England. An Indian war 
was inevitable ; diplomacy was no longer possible. There 
may have been minor causes, but they were not sufficient 
in themselves. The main cause was the influx of settlers 
upon the hunting grounds of the Indians. General Gage, 
in 1772, had issued a proclamation against settlements 
beyond the boundaries fixed by treaties made with the 
Indian Nations, to avoid " causing infinite disturbances." 
We have the testimony of lyOgan that even the murders of 
Yellow Creek, wrongly supposed to have been committed 
by Captain Michael Cresap, of Redstone (from which error 
Dunmore 's War is also called Cresap 's War) , did not cause 
the war of 1774. He said in the following July^ : " The 
Indians are not angry on account of these murders, but 
only myself." The Indians, regarding the settlements 

1 Parkman's Pontiac's Conspiracy, p. 157. 

2 Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, p. 179. 

3 Wither's Chronicles of Border Warfare, p. 138. 



4 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

in Southwestern Pennsylvania as the hive from which the 
adventurers to Kentucky swarmed, directed their opera- 
tions against this part of the frontier in 1774. In fact, the 
war, which was then commenced, and carried on with but 
little intermission up to the treaty of Fort Greenville, by 
Wayne, in 1795, was a war to prevent the further exten- 
sion of settlements by the whites. The Red Man had his 
own cause during all the years of the Revolution. He 
was not an ally of the English by virtue of the ancient 
friendship of the Iroquois, nor was he a hireling like the 
Hessian, fighting for a stipend. On the other hand, the 
Americans fought two wars at one and the same time — a 
war for independence and a war for territory. In the lat- 
ter phase of the Revolution, Virginia and Pennsylvania 
were especially interested, and they bore the brunt of it. 
Virginia fought for what the logic of events did not con- 
firm, and Pennsylvania for what her charter guaranteed. 
Whether the Revolution had come later or not at all, the 
Indians would have attacked and ravished the frontier 
before relinquishing the hunting grounds set apart by the 
King of Great Britain. 

During the earlier Colonial period, beginning with the 
first scattered and independent settlements, from Acadia 
to Florida, and ending as the wars with France began — 
each isolated group of Colonists was of necessity left to 
its own methods and policy in the intercourse and treat- 
ment of the natives. There was, of course, the same ulti- 
mate reference to British sovereignty as in other Colonial 
aflfairs ; and instructions were given from time to time as 
to ways of dealing with the Indians.^ But each Colony 
had to meet its own straits and emergencies. ^ The help 
and interference from England grew as the strife with 

1 Hart's Contemporaries, vol. 1, p. 186 ; Preston's Documents, p. 34. 

2 Charter to William Penn, section 16. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 5 

France waxed hotter. Pennsylvania being remote from 
the seat of the first wars with the French, had sole con- 
trol of its relations with the Indians until 1754. In that 
year, Governor Hamilton in common with all the other 
Governors in America received a letter from the I^ords of 
Trade, recommending " that all the provinces be (if prac- 
ticable) comprised in one general treaty to be made in his 
Majesty's Name, it appearing to their I^ordships that the 
Practice of each Province making a separate treaty for 
itself in its own Name, is very improper, and attended 
with great inconveniences to his Majesty's service."^ 
Such concerted action seemed wise to the Lords of Trade, 
because it had been tried on former occasions among some 
of the Colonies. However, the General Assembly of 
Pennsylvania did not approve very heartily of holding 
their treaties with the Indians at Albany ; but because all 
the Colonies were invited, they agreed that the Governor 
might send commissioners if he thought it were of interest 
and advantage to the Province. ^ One year later, Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson was made superintendent of Indian Affairs, 
with full power to treat with the Six Nations, and to se- 
cure them and their allies to the British interest. John- 
son's management of his office gave great satisfaction; 
and to set at rest the opposition he met from Governor 
Shirly, of Massachusetts, he received a commission, in 
1756, from the Crown, as "Colonel, Agent and Sole Super- 
intendent of all the affairs of the Six Nations and other 
Northern Indians . " ^ At the same time instructions came 
from the ministry forbidding each northern province to 
transact any business with Indians. Johnson now had 
the entire management of the Indian relations in his hands. 



1 Votes of the Assembly, p. 279-280. 

2 Ibid, p. 286. 

3 Stone's Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, vol. 1, p. 540. 



6 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

' ' and with no subornation but to London. * ' Indian trea- 
ties in Pennsylvania and important conferences were 
thereafter attended by the King's superintendent or his 
deputy. 

As long as the founder of Pennsylvania had lived, or dur- 
ing the first forty years of the time while the Province was 
the principal party , actor and contributor of ways and means 
in the management of Indian affairs, there is no record 
of any great dissatisfaction. Naturally, there was distrust 
at first ; ^ but it was soon replaced by confidence founded 
in honest trade, friendly intercourse and equal rights. ^ 
Penn's concession of the same rights to the heathen in the 
ownership of land as the Christians enjoyed, was the key 
to his whole Indian policy. The general theory of those 
times, originated by the Pope, was that no heathen people 
could acquire a title to land except to occupy it for hunt- 
ing and fishing and temporary abode as long as the Chris- 
tians did not want it. While the Spaniards applied this 
theory to the letter, resorting to force and bloodshed when 
resistance was offered, the English, as a rule, paid a nom- 
inal price for the land and avoided conquest if possible. 
However, there were exceptions to this rule in some of 
the English colonies. A large part of New England was 
conquered from the Indians.^ One of the causes of Roger 
Williams' banishment, was his criticism of the Massachu- 
setts authorities for their failure to pay for Indian lands. 
He held that the King could not grant land before it had 
been bought from the Indians. Penn held the same views 
as Williams, and paid the Indians for every foot of land 
before he sold it to the settlers. By the feudal powers 
conferred upon him as the lord of a huge fief, he might 

1 Peon's Letter to the Society of Free Traders, section 23. 

2 Penn's Conditions or Concessions, sections 12-15. 

3 Palfrey's History of New England, vol. 3, pp. 137-138. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 7 

have wrested the soil from the savages by force and estab- 
lished his title in blood. Instead, he secured it by treaties 
in the peaceful shades of the forest, sanctified by the in- 
cense from the calumet of peace. 

It has been claimed that undue praise is bestowed upon 
Penn's Indian policy — that the New Knglanders had paid 
for their lands fifty years before,^ that the Bishop of Lon- 
don advised Penn to do it in his province, ^ that the pacific 
policy of the Quakers made this course necessary, that it 
succeeded because the surrounding Indians, being vassals, 
were debarred by their conquerors from the use of arms, 
and that Penn paid twice for his lands in order to secure 
the good-will of both slave and master — once to the Iro- 
quois, who claimed by right of conquest, and once to the 
Delawares, who claimed by right of occupation. But no 
matter how much is due to others and to fortuitous cir- 
cumstances, William Penn was the Hamlet in it all. For 
the era of absolute peace lasted only a short time after 
Penn's death. With the year 1722, Indian complaints 
concerning land transactions began to appear on the ofl&cial 
records of Pennsylvania. Governor Keith, hearing that 
some Marylanders intended to take up land west of the Sus- 
quehanna by virtue of Baltimore's charter, hastily had some 
land surveyed there for himself. When the Indians learned 
of this, they desired to know whether the Governor's sur- 
vey would not occasion the immediate settlement of all 
that side of the river. They were assured that the Gov- 
ernor had taken up the land solely to prevent others from 
going there. As to his own right of land west of the 
Susquehanna, the Indians were referred to the purchase 
which William Penn had made of Governor Dongan, ox 
New York, 1696. This transaction, made in England, 

1 Bancroft, vol. 2, p. 98. 

2 Penn's I^etter to the Ministry, August 14, 1683. 



8 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

conveyed to Penn all the land between the northern and 
southern boundaries of Pennsylvania, lying on both sides 
of the Susquehanna- However, the Susquehanna In- 
dians, in 1700, complained to Penn that the Five Nations 
had not consulted them in the sale to Dongan, and they 
made the same complaint to Governor Keith, in 1722. 
Here appears, for the first time, the difficulty which Penn- 
sylvania experienced on account of the dominion which 
the Iroquois claimed over the native tribes of the Province. 
Keith was also reminded of a promise Penn had made in 
1700, that the land should be common among the English 
and the Indians. Keith's reply^ — " . . . only I have 
heard further that when he was so good to tell your peo- 
ple, that notwithstanding that purchase, the lands should 
still be in common, you answered, that a very little land 
would serve you , ' ' etc . — was quite prophetic of the Indian 's 
fate. To strengthen his claim to the survey made across 
the Susquehanna, Keith went to Albany the same year 
and had the Five Nations confirm the grant obtained 
through Governor Dongan. Yet five years afterwards 
some chiefs of the Five Nations came to Philadelphia and 
wanted to sell the same lands again. ^ 

The conference at Philadelphia, in 1727, was the first 
at which serious difficulties appear on the minutes of the 
Provincial Council.^ They were in the form of petitions 
from "ye back inhabitors " for protection against " ye 
Ingeans," and of complaints by the Indians against the 
frontier settlers. The Indians complained that " many 
sorts of traders came among them, both Indians and Eng- 
lish, who all cheat them, and though they get their skins 

1 Smith's Laws, vol. 2, p. 112. 

2 Colonial Records, vol, 3, p, 271. 

3 Colonial Records, vol. 3, pp. 274-275, and Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 
3, pp. 204-213. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 9 

they give them very little in pay, not enough to secure 
powder and shot to hunt with and get more." The 
traders, they said, had but little of these, but instead 
brought rum, which they sold very dear, three and four 
times more than it was worth. They also took notice that 
the French and English (reference is here to New York) 
raised forts among them, and that great numbers of people 
are sent thither, the meaning of which they did not under- 
stand, but feared it boded evil. They also desired that 
no seitlements be made up the Susquehanna higher than 
Paxtang, and that no rum be sold there, that being the 
road by which their people went out to war, nor at Alle- 
gheny. The Governor and Council replied that while 
there was great talk of war in Europe, the English and 
French were on the same side. As to trade, they knew 
it was the method of all that follow it to buy as cheap and 
sell as dear as possible ; every man must make the best 
bargain he can, and be on his guard. The answer to the 
complaint about the sale of rum was on a par with the 
one about trading — evasive and unsatisfactory. 

This same complaint had been made in 1722 : *' The 
Indians could live contentedly and grow rich if it were 
not for the quantities of rum that is suffered to come 
among them, contrary to what William Penn promised 
them." As to the forts, the Indians were assured that 
the English were their constant friends, and they need 
therefore have no fears. Of those built by the French, 
the Governor and Council had no knowledge. The set- 
tlements above Paxtang were made contrary to law, it 
was admitted ; but they were excused with an * ' of course, 
as the young people grow up they will spread, yet not very 
speedily." The Governor further promised to "give 
orders to them all to be civil to those of the Five Nations 
as they pass that way, and the sale of rum shall be pro- 



10 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

hibited there and at Allegheny, but the woods are so thick 
and dark we cannot see what is done in them." 

The following year, another conference was held at 
Philadelphia. French intrigues began to show them- 
selves,^ but the field of operation was yet too far removed 
from Philadelphia to receive much attention . The greatest 
difficulty was trespass upon lands not purchased from the 
Indians. Addressing himself to James I^ogan, a Dela- 
ware chief said, that he was growing old, and was troubled 
to see the Christians settle on lands for which the Indians 
had never been paid, that his children might v^onder to 
see all their fathers' land gone without any money for it, 
that this might occasion a difference between his children 
and the Knglish. The Delaware chief had reference 
specially to the Tulpehockin lands now in Berks county, 
which had been occupied by the connivance of Governor 
Keith, but without the consent of the Proprietors. A 
colony of Germans from New York, friends and associates 
of Conrad Weiser, afterwards the famous Indian Agent 
of the Province, had invaded the lands and actually aided 
and abetted the destruction of the Indians ' crops . ^ James 
lyOgan promised to make the matter satisfactory, and 
asked the Indians not to injure the Palatines. The In- 
dians acquiesced, but the lands on the Tulpehockin were 
not deeded and paid for until 1733. This violation of the 
well-settled policy of William Penn brought about the 
first collision between the Indians and the frontiersmen.^ 
It gave the French their first good chance to intrigue with 
the savages of Pennsylvania ; * and was the entering wedge 
to the alienation of the natives, **who," as Governor 



1 Colonial Records, vol. 3, pp. 295-298. 

2 Colonial Records, vol. 3, p. 324. 

3 Gordon's Proclamation, Colonial Records, vol. 3, p. 307. 

4 Colonial Records, vol. 3, pp. 438-452. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 11 

Gordon said, speaking in his proclamation of May i6th, 
1728, about former treaties, *' have not been guilty of any 
failure or breach on their parts of the said treaty." 

The deed releasing the Tulpehockin lands embraced 
none of the lands in the Delaware basin, where the set- 
tlements at the Minisinks, nearly forty miles above the 
I^eckey Hills, caused great discontent. Here a warrant 
for 10,000 acres had been secured by WilUam Allen, a 
great land dealer, from William Penn, grandson of the 
founder, about the same time^ that the Germans came to 
Tulpehockin. Allen chose a tract in the vicinity of the 
present town of Stroudsburg, and sold it to such as would 
settle it. According to the Rolls-office of Bucks county, ^ 
a tract sold to one Depue actually included a Shawanese 
town, and another an island belonging to the same tribe. 
About this time, too, the Proprietary offered to dispose 
of lands by lottery, which the lucky ones were allowed to 
lay out anywhere except on Proprietary and settlers' 
claims. To assist the adventurers in the choice of good 
lands, several tracts were laid out in the Forks of the 
Delaware. Though the lottery did not fill, and therefore 
was not drawn, the tickets sold became rights, by virtue 
of which the tracts in the Forks of the Delaware were 
quickly taken up and settled by the Scotch-Irish. 

These transactions provoked the Indians. Seeing them- 
selves deprived of their lands without any consideration, 
they complained loudly, and even began to threaten. 
After several ineffectual attempts in 1734-35 to compose 
the clamors of the Delawares, the Proprietary complained 
of them to the Five Nations. In 1736, deputies of these 
arrived in Philadelphia. After a week's deliberation, in 
the course of which complaint was made against the Del- 



1 Smith's Laws, vol. 2, p. 114. 

2 Thompson's Alienation of the Indians, p. 29. 



12 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

a wares, a treaty was ratified by which all the lands be- 
tween the mouth of the Susquehanna and the Kittatinny 
Hills were released. By the deed itself, ^ it appears that 
the extent of land eastward was * ' as far as the heads of 
the branches or springs which run in the said Susque- 
hanna ; ' ' and therefore it did not give any color of right 
for settling the lands in the Forks of the Delaware. 
Wherefore, to correct this defect, some of the Indians who 
visited Conrad Weiser on their way home were induced 
at Tulpehockin,2 eleven days after the public treaty had 
been ended, ^ to sign a piece of writing declaring that their 
intention in the deed was to release all the lands between 
the Susquehanna and the Delaware as far north as the 
Kittatinny Mountains. The extent of land conveyed by 
the second instrument was double that described in the 
deed ; yet for the farther grant there was no considera- 
tion. 

It seems that the Proprietary themselves did not think 
that the Six Nations could convey lands east of the tribu- 
taries of the Susquehanna ; for eight months later, August 
25. 1737, they procured a release from the Delawares for 
at least a part of these lands. This release was the 
famous walking purchase, or the confirmation of a sup- 
posed deed of 1686. The Indians having no recollection 
of any such deed, and there being no record of it on the 
rolls, it took considerable persuasion to make them be- 
lieve that the deed was genuine. It is certain that no such 
original deed was in existence at the treaty of Baston, in 
I757-* The tract of land as described in it, and as con- 
firmed in 1737, began '* on a line drawn from a certain 



1 Smith's I^aws, vol. 2, p. 115. 

2 Thompson's Alienation of the Indians, p. 115, 

3 Ibid, p. 32. 

4 Smith's I^aws, vol. 2, p. 111. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 13 

spruce tree on the river Delaware by a west-north west 
course to Neshaminy creek, from thence back into the 
woods as far as a man could go in a day and a half .... 
and from thence to the aforesaid river Delaware, and so 
down the courses of the river to the first-mentioned spruce 
tree."^ The Indians knew nothing about the surveyor's 
chain, and so the deeds call for the measurement of lands 
by walking or riding. The walk was accordingly made ; 
but it only increased the dissatisfaction of the Indians. 
It extended about thirty miles beyond the Lechay Hills, 
over the Kittatinny Mountains, and included the best 
lands in the Forks of the Delaware. When the line was 
drawn to the Delaware, from the point reached by the 
walk, instead of drawing it directly to the river, it was 
slanted northward, so as to include the valuable Minisink 
Flats. The Indians complained that the walkers selected 
by the Proprietary ran instead of walked ; at least they 
could not keep up. Furthermore, their expectation was 
that the walk would be made parallel to the course of the 
Delaware. That the walking purchase was a fraud can- 
not be denied. It sank deep into the Indian heart, and 
was never forgotten. The Delawares were driven from 
the English interest into that of the French, who stood 
ready to increase the dissatisfaction . 

The Indians refused to quit the lands or give quiet 
possession to the people who came to settle in the Forks. 
Accordingly, in 1742, the Six Nations were brought to 
Philadelphia again to force the Delawares to leave the 
Forks. Their coming was necessary, not only for the 
peace of the Province at that time, but for its future se- 
curity in case of a rupture with the French. ^ The situa- 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 1, p. 541 

2 Governor Thomas' Proclamation, Votes of Assembly, vol. 3, pp. 481- 
482. 



14 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

tion was explained, and the Six Nations were asked to 
remove the Dela wares from the Forks, without giving the 
latter any chances to make a defense. This the Six Na- 
tions concluded to do, and, addressing the Delawares, up- 
braided them in scathinglanguage, calling them ' ' women , ' ' 
with no right to sell lands, and charging them to remove 
instantly without liberty to think about it. They might 
go back to New Jersey, where they came from, or settle 
at Wyoming or Shamokin. Their masters then forbade 
them ever to meddle in land affairs or pretend to sell any 
land.^ The Delawares dared not disobey. They at once 
left the conference and soon after removed — some to 
Wyoming and Shamokin, others to Ohio. 

Having disposed of the Delawares, the Six Nations 
proceeded to a little business of their own at the same 
council. They had helped to defraud the Delawares on 
the Minisinks, (see page 13), but they were not willing 
to be defrauded themselves at the Juniata. The Six Na- 
tions complained that the Governor's people daily settled 
on the lands beyond the Blue Mountains. " In particu- 
lar," said they, '* we renew our Complaints against some 
People who are settled at Juniata, a Branch of Susque- 
hanna, and desire that they may be forthwith made to go 
off the Land, for they do great damage to our Cousins, 
the Delawares." The Governor replied that magistrates 
had been sent to remove the settlers. The Indians inter- 
rupted him and said, ** These persons who were sent do 
not do their Duty ; so far from removing the People, they 
made Surveys for themselves, and they are in League with 
the Trespassers : we desire more effectual methods may 
be used and honester Men employed. "^ 

The first unwelcome people who came to the lands ot 

1 Colonial Records, vol. 4, pp. 479-480. 

2 Colonial Records, vol. 4, pp. 571-572. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 15 

the Juniata were traders, to whom official reference was 
made at the council of Philadelphia in 1727. In the time 
of Penn the natives brought their peltry hundreds of miles 
to the Delaware river. In the course of time, as the de- 
mand for skins and furs grew greater, traders penetrated 
the depths of the forest to hasten and monopolize the 
trade. In this way the whole Juniata and West Branch 
regions were explored and advertised to adventurous set- 
tlers. These were generally a good class of people, but 
the Indians estimated them by the traders, who were no 
better than banditti. ^ The settlers to whom the Indians 
referred in 1742 were Germans, ^ who came several years 
in advance of all other white settlers, and boldly located 
themselves in the valley of the Juniata. The Governor 
and the Proprietors caused the settlers to be driven out 
in 1743. But at the same time the Irish were making set- 
tlements on unpurchased lands at Big Cove, Little Cove 
and other places farther up the valley. Later, some per- 
sons had the presumption to go into Tuscarora Gap, into 
Aughwick lying northward, into Shearman's Creek, into 
the valley of the Big Juniata, whence the Germans had 
been driven, and along the west side of the Susquehanna 
as far as Penn's Creek. So in 1748 the Government sent 
the sheriff with three magistrates and Conrad Weiser into 
these places to warn the people ; but they paid no heed, 
and continued their settlement. 

The tension was somewhat relieved by the purchase of 
1749, which included a strip of land on the east side of 
the Susquehanna, north of the Blue Mountains, as far as 
the Delaware. So much the Indians were willing to do, 
because they had seen on their way down from Onondago 
that many people, whom it would be difficult to remove, 

1 Votes of Assembly, vol. 3, p. 555. 

2 Colonial Records, vol. 5, p. 445. 



16 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

had settled ou the east side of the Susquehanna. But they 
insisted on the removal of those on the west side. Procla- 
mations were accordingly issued, but again disregarded 
by the " squatters." In May, 1750, Richard Peters, the 
secretary of the Land Office, with some magistrates, was 
sent to remove them. On his way he met some Indians, 
who were delighted to learn of his mission, but feared it 
would prove like former attempts — the people would be 
put off now, but come back again next year ; and if so, 
the Six Nations would no longer bear it, but would do 
themselves justice . Mr. Peters, accompanied by the Indians, 
broke up the settlements at Shearman's Valley, at Augh- 
wick and Big Cove, everywhere dispossessing the people 
and burning the cabins. But, through a technicality,^ 
Peters did not make thorough work, though he had de- 
clared before he went out on his mission — " That if he 
did not at this journey entirely remove these people, it 
would not be in the power of the Governor to prevent an 
Indian war." 

By the message which Governor Hamilton sent to the 
Assembly with Mr. Peters' report, it appears that what 
had been done proved of little avail. ^ Within two years 
after the squatters had been led into the Carlisle jail, many 
of them returned, and others came with them. These 
continual aggressions greatly incensed the Indians. At 
a treaty in Carlisle, 1753, they very plainly expressed 
their views, but were unwilling to say or do anything from 
which their friendship might be suspected. They advised 
the authorities that Pennsylvania and Virginia forbear 
settling on the Indians' lands over the Allegheny Hills, 
being especially earnest in their renewal of the request to 
have the traders brought back to the Susquehanna ; that 



1 Thompson's Alienation of the Indians, p. 72. 

2 Colonial Records, vol. 5, p. 455. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 17 

the Governor recall the people from the Juniata Valley, 
and that none others locate there until matters were set- 
tled between them and the French, " lest," they said, 
*' damage should be done, and we should think ill of 
them. ' ' 1 There was great anxiety now to strengthen the 
fidelity of all the Indians, as official records fully show. 
Communications by means of agents were numerous until 
the unfortunate purchase of 1754 kindled a flame, which 
could only be extinguished by a deluge of blood. 

The treaty, at which the purchase of 1754 was made, 
was held at Albany, by order of the King (See page 5). 
The tract acquired by the Proprietary was bounded on 
the north by a line drawn from Shamokin to Lake Erie, 
and on the west and south by the utmost extent of the 
Province. It included nearly all of Pennsylvania west of 
the Susquehanna. The lands where the Shawanese and 
Ohio Indians lived, and the hunting grounds of the Dela- 
wares, the Nanticokes and the Tuteloes, were all included. 
They were obtained by methods not described by the 
writers of the time, but strongly hinted at, and requiring 
a week to induce the Indians to execute the deed.^ The 
Indians were deceived by compass measurements, which 
they did not understand i'^ the deed was irregular, with- 
out proper notice, according to the custom of the Six 
Nations ; and it gave away lands of tribes whose repre- 
sentatives had never signed it.* Pennsylvania and Con- 
necticut had entered a race for the purchase of 1754; each 
was bent on getting it by fair means or foul ; and Penn- 
sylvania won, but it was a costly victory. Many of the 
Indian tribes seeing their lands gone joined the French, 



1 Colonial Records, vol. 5, pp. 671-684. 

2 Thompson's Alienation of the Indians, p. 78. 

3 Colonel Weiser's Journal of Aughwick Conference, Colonial Records, 
vol. 6, p. 150. 

4 Thompson's Alienation of the Indians, p. 79. 



18 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

and in the following year showed their resentment on 
Braddock's field. 

Governor Morris, after the defeat of Braddock, told 
the Assembly "that it seemed clear, from the diflferent 
accounts he had received, that the French had gained to 
their interest the Delaware and Shawanese Indians, under 
the ensnaring pretense of restoring them to their coun- 
try. "^ The Assembly themselves said , "It is rendered 
beyond contradiction plain that the cause of the present 
Indian incursions in this Province, and the dreadful 
calamities many of the inhabitants have suffered, have 
arisen in great measure from the exorbitant and unreason- 
able purchases made, or supposed to be made, of the In- 
dians, and the manner of making them. So exorbitant, 
that the natives complain they have not a country left to 
subsist in. "2 John Penn himself, later on, admitted the 
just cause of the Indians' complaint for past injuries, and 
would gladly have removed them when it was too late.^ 

The serious consequences to the British interests occa- 
sioned an appeal to the Proprietors through the Lords 
Commissioners of Trade, with the result that they agreed 
to limit the bounds of the purchase of 1754. A Commis- 
sion was sent over, authorizing and directing a treaty to 
be held for that purpose. Previous to this treaty, great 
exertions were made by the Quakers to bring about an 
accommodation with the Delawares and the Shawanese. 
First a treaty was madeat Baston, 1756, with those living 
in Pennsylvania, but not until war had been declared on 
them by Governor Morris, and premiums offered for their 
scalps. Next, in conjunction with Forbes, in 1758, the 
Moravian missionary, Frederick Post, was sent to the Ohio 



1 Votes of Assembly, vol. 4, p. 492. 

2 Ibid, pp. 718-738. 

3 Ibid, vol. 6, pp. 7-8. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 19 

to induce the Delawares and Shawanese there to join their 
brethren of Pennsylvania in a treaty of peace. His mis- 
sion was successful; and coupled with Forbes' victory, 
it made the great convention at Easton in October, 1758, 
possible. There were present about 300 chiefs, and they 
had from the 7th to the 26th of the month to state all their 
complaints about ill-treatment and land-stealing. The 
result was that the Proprietors reconveyed to the Indians 
the land of the Albany purchase which had been unjustly 
taken. The treaty of Easton went far to restore the con- 
ditions that had prevailed before the walking purchase and 
the other aggressions, which had alienated the Red Man, 
and driven him into an alliance with the French. 

Though the Proprietary were more cautious now not 
to offend the Indians, the settlers on the frontier had no 
more regard for savage rights than before . Proclamations 
had to be issued repeatedly, from 1761 to 1763, command- 
ing settlers on unpurchased Indian lands to evacuate and 
abandon them. However, the fearless Scotch-Irish and 
the determined New Englander pushed ever farther into 
the wilderness ; nor was the plodding German far behind 
them. Proclamations had no terror for these. All that 
the Quakers and the Moravians, and England herself,^ 
could do to maintain peace was done ; but their efforts 
could not prevent Pontiac's Conspiracy, with its horrible 
memories of Wyoming and Paxtang. It might be sup- 
posed that the fate of the Yankees on the North Branch, 
and the atrocities of the murder of the Conestogas, 
would have had a deterrent effect on the land-grabbing 
propensities of the frontiersmen; but it had not. Sir 
William Johnson wrote to General Gage, in 1766, that 
murders were committed daily, and that Indian war was 



1 TrumbtiU MSS., Mass. Hist. Society. 



20 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

inevitable. Proclamations against trespass were again 
issued, but they were of non-eifect, and simply laughed 
at. What made matters worse, the Scotch-Irish and the 
Quakers had become bitter political enemies through the 
exigencies of the Indian wars, as the following doggerel 
plainly shows : 

" Go on, good Christians, never spare 
To give your Indians clothes to wear ; 
Send 'em good beef and pork and beans, 
Guns, powder, flints and store of lead, 
To shoot your neighbors through the head ; 
Devoutly then make affirmation, 
You're friends to George and British nation ; 
Encourag-e every friendly savage 
To murder, burn, destroy and ravage ; 
Fathers and mothers here maintain, 
Whose sons add numbers to the slain ; 
Of Scotch and Irish let them kill 
As many thousands as they will, 
That you may lord it o'er the land. 
And have the whole and sole command." 

By an Act passed February 3, 1768, to continue in force 
one year, all persons were interdicted from settling on the 
Indian lands under the highest forfeiture known in society, 
namely, death without benefit of clergy. ^ Exception was 
made in favor of settlers holding licenses from British 
officers to settle on the military roads leading to Fort Pitt. 
All efforts to keep the settlers out of the unpurchased 
lands proving non-effective, the last purchase by the Pro- 
prietary from the Indians was made at Fort Stanwix, in 
1 768 . The purchase included all of the Province not pre- 
viously bought, except the part lying north and west of a 
line which ran from a point just west of Fort Stanwix, 
south to the Susquehanna, thence up the West Branch 



1 Smith's I<aws, vol. 2, p. 570. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 21 

and across to Kittanning on the Allegheny, thence down 
that river and the Ohio. It was understood by the In- 
dians that no white man was to settle to the west of the 
line agreed upon.^ In the deed there was an uncertainty 
as to what was the boundary on the northern side of the 
West Branch. To prevent controversy with the Indians, 
no lands were permitted to be surveyed to the west of 
Lycoming creek ; and a law was again passed punishing, 
by a fine of 500 pounds and twelve months' imprisonment, 
any person settling or surveying lands thereon. The 
reasons for passing such stringent laws were the fears of 
another war ; ^ but the law did not deter adventurers from 
squatting on forbidden lands of the West Branch. They 
were a little state of their own, administered justice 
after primitive fashion down to the time of the Revolu- 
tion, and by a singular coincidence passed a declaration 
of independence from Great Britain on the same day it 
was passed by the Congress in Philadelphia. In 1778 
these "fair-play " men, so called from their methods of 
adjusting difl&culties, paid dearly for their lands with the 
lives of their wives and children taken by the Indians in 
revenge for unfair treatment. 

It is clearly seen that the trespass upon unpurchased 
lands in Pennsylvania, and the unjust and illegal trans- 
actions in land — so rare in the lifetime of Penn, but so 
common under the rule of his heirs — were fresh in the 
memory of the Indians at the outbreak of the Revolution 
nor could they have forgotten the unscrupulous dealings 
and licentious acts of the traders, the squatters of the 
Juniata and the Lycoming, the murder of the Conestogas, 
the rewards for scalps offered by Morris^ and John 



1 Smith's Laws, vol. 2, p. 122. 

2 Votes of Assembly, vol. 6, pp. 7-8. 

3 Colonial Records, vol. 7, p. 88. 



22 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

Penn,^ and other outrageous things unbecoming a Chris- 
tian people. With a civilized people these memories of 
past wrongs, formally adjusted by treaties, would not have 
been casus belli 2X the time of the Revolution. With the 
Indians they were, especially under the instigations of 
British emissaries and American traitors. 

The first opportunity for British intrigues with the In- 
dians was found in Lord Dunmore's war. There was a 
belief, prevalent even before it began, that Great Britain, 
facing an inevitable conflict with the colonies, was anxious 
for an Indian war, to afford an excuse for the presence of 
her standing army in America. ^ For many years after- 
wards Lord Dunmore himself was suspected of having 
had a secret understanding with the Indians, " looking 
to the almost certain results of the commotions which 
were agitating America. ' ' ^ Though this view is not now 
held, he certainly made the acquaintance of men on the 
frontier in 1774, whom he afterwards regarded as fit in- 
struments to foment war on the frontier. Among these 
was Simon Girty, one of three white renegade brothers. 
They had been taken captive by the Indians while the 
French held Fort Duquesne, and they lived among the 
savages for some time. Simon Girty now lived at Pitts- 
burg, where Dunmore met him and employed him as a 
scout.* In February, 1775, when the Virginia courts 
were organized in Western Pennsylvania, Simon Girty 
was appointed magistrate by Governor Dunmore, and took 
the oath of allegiance to his majesty King George III. 
Of course, this was a formal proceeding incident to taking 
the office ; yet, though he was loyal for a time to the colo- 



1 Colonial Records, vol. 9. p. 189. 

2 American Archives, 4th Series, vol. 1, p. 1018. 

3 Wither's Border Warfare, p. 177. 

4 History of the Girty s, p. 27. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 23 

nies, it is evident that he sided with the Mother Country 
at that time, from the fact that his name was on the 
** MS. List " of " Persons well-Disposed to his Majesty's 
Government, Living on the Frontiers of Virginia," sent 
by Dunmore to Lord George Germaine. ^ This list finally 
reached Governor Hamilton, at Detroit, in 1777 ; and the 
next year we find Simon Girty and his brothers aiding the 
British in the border war against Pennsylvania, ^ having 
been recommended by Lord Dunmore as one of the num- 
ber having " extensive influence among the inhabitants" 
in Western Pennsylvania. 

Another man met by Dunmore in 1774, and one of far 
more value to the British cause on the frontier, was Dr. 
John Connelly, the Benedict Arnold of Western Pennsyl- 
vania. He was born at Wright's Ferry, and was half- 
brother of General James Ewing, of York county, and a 
nephew of Colonel Croghan, the British Indian Agent. 
He distinguished himself in Pontiac's Conspiracy, and 
afterwards settled at Pittsburg. When the contentions 
for Western Pennsylvania arose between Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, he sided with the latter because he thought 
she had the best claims ; ^ and he became her willing ser- 
vant, being made Commandant of the militia, January 
ist, 1774, by Lord Dunmore. In this position he became 
very obnoxious to the authorities of Pennsylvania, and 
was arrested by Arthur St. Clair, one of the justices of 
the peace for Westmoreland county. He was released by 
the sheriff,* but he took possession of Pittsburg, changed 
the name of Fort Pitt to Fort Dunmore, assailed the Penn- 
sylvania Court at Hannastown with an armed force of Vir- 



1 Haldimand Papers. 

2 History of the Gir tys, p. 59. 

3 Narrative of John Connelly, Pa. Hist. Mag-., vol. 12, p. 312. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 484. 



24 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

ginia militia, and fomented disturbance between the Penn- 
sylvanians and the Indians.^ The war of 1774 brought 
Dunmore to Pittsburg, where he met Connelly ; and the 
two went forth together to do battle with the Indians. 
From this association sprang up an acquaintance that 
ripened into an iniquitous conspiracy. 

Before Lord Dunmore had issued his order for General 
Lewis' retreat after the battle of Point Pleasant, in Lord 
Dunmore's war, various events had occurred in 1774, be- 
ginning with the destruction of the tea at Boston, in 
March, and ending with the First Continental Congress 
at Philadelphia, in September; and actual hostilities were 
only a question of time. Dunmore and Connelly now 
plotted together in the interests of Great Britain. Con- 
nelly got a letter ^ from George Washington in February, 
1775, which made him decide instantly " to exert every 
faculty in defense of the royal cause." He had all the 
secrets of Gage, Dunmore, Sir William Johnson, Sir Guy 
Carleton, and he knew also who on the frontier might join 
the King's cause. His first work was, by advice of Lord 
Dunmore,^ to "convene the Indians to a treaty, restore 
the prisoners, and endeavor to incline them to espouse the 
royal cause." In this he was successful, though Vir- 
ginia at the same time had her agents among the savages 
and watched his actions closely. He secured a large belt 
of wampum to be transmitted to Lord Dunmore, and from 
him to his Majesty, as a symbol of their support. The 
next step Connelly took was to induce as many gentle- 
men of consequence as possible to join him in defense of 
the British Government. The leading men approached 
by him were Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 527. 

2 Pennsylvania Hist. Mag-., vol. 12, p. 314. 

3 Ibid, p. 315. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 25 

Matthew Elliott. The first named has already been 
mentioned as personally well known to L<ord Dunmore. 
Alexander McKee was a native of Eastern Pennsylvania, 
and early became an Indian Agent at Pittsburg. 
When Bedford and Westmoreland counties were organ- 
ized, he each time was made justice of the peace, and 
became a prominent citizen. Early in 1776, he had to 
give his parole to the Virginia authorities not to trade 
with the Indians in behalf of the Crown, nor to leave the 
vicinity of Fort Pitt. He had been very intimate with 
Connelly, ^ and in the * ' list of well disposed, ' ' which most 
likely was prepared by Dr. Connelly for Dunmore, McKee 
stands first. ^ On March 28th, 1778, he, with Girty and 
Elliott, escaped to Detroit, and he was ever afterwards an 
active agent of the British against the Western frontier. 
McKee 's defection was looked upon as foreboding great 
disaster.^ Matthew Elliott, too, w^as an Indian trader, 
born in Eastern Pennsylvania. He was in the Indian 
country at the time of the battle of Point Pleasant, and 
brought the message to the Virginia Governor from the 
Shawanese, asking for peace. All these were well re- 
warded by Governor Hamilton for their traitorous act, 
especially McKee, who was made an Indian officer — Cap- 
tain and Interpreter in the Indian department.^ 

Having attended to the preliminaries of his plot with 
Dunmore, Dr. Connelly now proceeded to see him, but 
he was arrested and taken to Ligonier. There Arthur St. 
Clair, who was the commander of the militia, " with the 
help of a cheerful glass," got at some of his designs, 
which were communicated to Philadelphia.^ Connelly 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 695. 

2 HiBtory of the Girtys, p. 32. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol.6, p. 445. 

4 History of the Girtys, p. 63. 

5 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 637. 



26 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

managed to get free, but did not reach Lord Dunmore 
without another arrest. Between them a plan was formed 
in July, 1775, which promised fair. A co-operative body 
of troops from Canada and the Western frontiers of Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia, with Indian auxiliaries, was to be 
ready to act when General Howe would draw the atten- 
tion of the Americans northward. Connelly was dis- 
patched to Gage at Boston, who approved of the plan. 
But the Doctor could not proceed to Canada on account 
of the American invasion already begun. So he returned 
to Virginia, where Lord Dunmore gave him a commission 
to raise troops on the frontier, and with a body of Cana- 
dians and Indians form a junction with his Lordship at 
Alexandria. He got as far as an inn, five miles beyond 
Hagerstown, Md. He had an address ^ with him from 
Lord Dunmore to Captain White-Eyes, which was de- 
signed to influence the Indians against the Americans in 
case of hostilities, by offering them the King's protection 
in the possession of their lands. This speech was enclosed 
in a letter written by Connelly ^ to John Gibson, K?q., 
near Fort Dunmore. In this letter he tried to persuade 
his friend on the frontier not to cast his lot '* with enthu- 
siasts, whose ill-timed folly must draw upon them inevi- 
table destruction. ' ' The letter and the enclosed contents 
fell into the hands of some Maryland Minute Men, and 
they arrested Connelly. He was sent to Philadelphia and 
confined in jail, by order of Congress, in January, 1776. 
He was restored to liberty, by an exchange of prisoners, 
in October, 1780. He immediately formed another plan 
on paper to attack the frontiers, possess himself of Pitts- 
burg, and fortify the passes of the AUeghenies with pro- 
vincial troops and Indian auxiliaries. It was not acted 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 684. 

2 Pennsylvania Hist. Mag-., vol. 12, p. 408. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 27 

upon, however, by the British. So he entered the army 
of Cornwallis in Virginia, and was again captured by the 
Americans and held as a prisoner of war until 1783, when 
he went to England with the defeated army of Great 
Britain. 

The advantage to the British of an offensive and de- 
fensive alliance with the Indians, thus early perceived by 
Connelly and Dunmore through the exigencies of the war 
of 1774, became apparent to the English Ministry and the 
American Congress as soon as the Revolution became a 
fact. Scattered for 1,500 miles along the whole frontier, 
the savages were desirable friends or formidable enemies 
to either Great Britain or the Colonies. In the wars be- 
tween the English and the French, it had been customary 
on each side to employ them as auxiliaries. In the com- 
petition for their friendship at this time, the British had 
great advantages. The expulsion of the French from 
Canada was still fresh in the memory of the Indians, and 
inspired ideas of martial superiority on the part of the 
British. By the non-importation act, the Colonies had 
debarred themselves from importing the articles necessary 
for Indian wants. ^ Since 1754, the transactions with the 
Indians had been mostly carried on by Superintendents 
(See page 5), appointed and paid by the King of Great 
Britain. These being under obligations to the Crown, 
and expecting further favors, generally used their influ- 
ence with the Indians in behalf of the mother country. In 
Pennsylvania the deputy agent was Colonel George Crog- 
han. Born in Ireland, but coming to Pennsylvania, he 
settled near the site of Harrisburg, and was an Indian 
trader as early as 1746. Having acquired the confidence 
of the Indians, he was made deputy agent under Sir Wil- 



iThe Olden Time, p. 98, Speech to Kiashuta, by Richard Butler. 



28 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

Ham Johnson. In 1763 he was sent to England to con- 
fer with the Ministry in relation to the Indian boundary- 
line, lyater he was sent to Illinois to pacify the Indians 
there. After his return, he settled at Fort Pitt, and 
thereafter rendered valuable service in pacifying the In- 
dians, and conciliating them to the British interests up 
to the war for independence.^ He had no great love for 
Connelly in 1774,^ though siding with Virginia in her 
quarrel with Pennsylvania. St. Clair tells Governor Penn 
not to expect real friendship from him, '* for by his in- 
terest alone he is regulated." ^ In 1775 we find him at 
the head of the Committee of Observation for West 
Augusta or Fort Pitt ;* and at a session in April, 1776, 
when Alexander McKee was required to give his parole, 
he was still on the side of the Colonies.^ However, in a 
letter written by John Butler, Guy Johnson's deputy at 
Niagara and addressed to McKee, Croghan receives the 
compliments of the writer. His name then disappears 
from the records, and he died in Philadelphia, 1782. 

That the Indian agents at first played a double part 
was more fully demonstrated in the case of Guy Johnson, 
the successor of Sir William, than in that of McKee and 
Croghan. Being citizens of the Colonies, yet employed 
by the King, their duplicity was natural as long as the 
Revolutionary movement had not assumed the form of 
independence. After July 4th, 1776, a double role was 
not tolerated — then a Tory was a traitor and a Whig a 
rebel. In May, 1775, the Provincial Congress addressed 
a letter to Guy Johnson, respecting a rumor that he in- 
tended to set the Indians upon the Americans. In his 



1 Letters of Col. Crog-han, Pa. Hist. Mag-., vol. 15, p. 429. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 507. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 523. 

4 Pennsvlvania Associates and Militia, vol. 2, p. 731. 

5 The Oiden Time, p. 99. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 29 

reply, written from Fort Stanwix, he said : '* I trust I 
shall always manifest more humanity than to promote the 
destruction of the innocent inhabitants, or a colony to 
which I have always been warmly attached — a declara- 
tion that must appear perfectly suitable to the character 
of a man of honor and principle."^ Like professions 
were also made to the Committee of Safety of Tryon 
county. 2 At the same time, under the secret instruc- 
tions of General Gage, he arranged with more than 3,000 
warriors to take up the hatchet, as appears from a letter 
to Lord Dartmouth, written in October following.^ One 
might well have exclaimed with Hamlet, ** Look hereon 
this picture and on this." After enumerating his diffi- 
culties and embarrassments, he adds : 

** And having then received secret instructions from General 
Gag-e, respecting the measures I had to take, I left home the 
last of that month (May), and by the help of a body of white 
men and Indians, arrived with g-reat difficulty at Ontario, where 
in a little time I assembled 1,455 Indians, and adjusted matters 
with them in such a manner that they agreed to defend the 
communication and assist his Majesty's tribes in their opera- 
tions. The beg-inning of July, I set out for this place (Mon- 
treal) with a chosen body of them, and rangers to the number 
of 220, not being able to get any craft or provisions for more, 
and arrived here the I7th of that month, and soon afterward 
convened a second body of the Northern confederacy, to the 
amount of 1,700 and upwards, who entered into the same ar- 
rangement, notwithstanding they had declined coming in some 
time before I gave Carleton's requisition, their minds having 
been corrupted by New England emissaries.'' 

Colonel Guy Johnson, as well as General Gage and 
Governor Carleton, got their instructions concerning the 
employment of Indians from the English Government ;* 



1 Proceedings of the N. Y. Hist. Society, p. 165. 

2 American Archives, Series 4, vol. 2, p. 911. 

3 Proceedings of N. Y. Hist. Society, 1845, p. 165. 

4 Proceedings of the N. Y. Hist. Society, 1845, pp. 166-167 ; also, Ameri- 
can Archives, 4th series, vol. 3, p. 6. 



30 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

and, most probably, after they had already taken steps to 
employ them upon their own responsibility. In answer 
to a letter from Guy Johnson, written March 17th, 1775, 
concerning the management of the Indians in his Maj esty 's 
colonies. Lord Dartmouth wrote, July 5th, giving in- 
structions to ' * assure them in the strongest terms of his 
Majesty's firm resolution to protect them, and preserve 
them in all their rights," and to " exert the utmost vigi- 
lance to discover whether any artifices are used to engage 
them in the support of the rebellious proceedings of his 
Majesty's subjects, to counteract such treachery, and to 
keep them in such a state of affection and attachment to 
the King as that his Majesty may rely upon their assist- 
ance in any case in which it may be necessary to require 
it." Nineteen days later, when news of the battle of 
Bunker Hill had reached London, Dartmouth writes again 
to Johnson. He says that " the intelligence his Majesty 
has received of the rebels having excited the Indians to 
take a part, and of their actually having engaged a body 
of them in arms to support their rebellion, justifies the 
resolution his Majesty has taken of requiring the assist- 
ance of his faithful adherents, the Six Nations. * ' Johnson 
was to * * lose no time in taking such steps as may induce 
them to take up the hatchet against his Majesty's rebel- 
lious subjects." The injunction to make haste was un- 
necessary, for, as we have seen, the Indian Superintend- 
ent, had already raised two large bodies of warriors, by 
order of General Gage. The latter, after the Americans 
had surprised Ticonderoga, and made incursions upon the 
frontiers of Quebec, wrote to Dartmouth, June 12th, that 
General Carleton would be justified " to raise bodies of 
Canadians and Indians to attack them in return ; and we 
need not be tender of calling on the savages, as the rebels 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania » 31 

have shown us the example, by bringing as many Indians 
down against us here as they could collect."^ Lord 
Dunmore, too, May ist, held out the encouraging hope 
to Dartmouth that he could "collect from among the In- 
dians, negroes and other persons a force sufficient, if not 
to subdue the rebellion, at least to defend Government. "^ 
These letters from America concerning the employment 
of Indians received the endorsement of the King and his 
Ministry. In planning the campaign of 1776, the Indians 
were to constitute a part of the British army in North 
America,^ and Colonel Johnson was to follow the exam- 
ple of the rebels, reported by Gage, and engage a body of 
Indians by means of "a large assortment of goods for 
presents," to be sent out "by the first ship-of-war." 

The instructions of the British Ministry to Guy John- 
son, in 1775, led to the disintegration of the Iroquois 
confederacy. A large number of the Oneidas and Tus- 
caroras refused to take up the hatchet against the Ameri- 
cans, and thus defeated the British alliance as an act of 
the league. It was, therefore, resolved to let each nation 
engage in the war upon its own responsibility. The 
great council-fire, which had burned so long at Onondaga, 
went out, never to be rekindled. Johnson held several 
councils at other places now, and finally went to Mon- 
treal, accompanied by 3,000 chiefs and warriors, the most 
noted among whom was Joseph Brandt, or Thayenda- 
nega. There Sir Guy Carleton and Sir Frederick Haldi- 
mand completed the work of winning the Indians of the 
Six Nations over to the cause of the Crown. In a speech 
delivered by Brandt in 1803, reviewing the services of the 
Six Nations in the Revolution, he said, that at Montreal 



1 American Archives, 4th series, vol. 2, p. 968. 

2 Ibid, vol. 3, p. 6. 

3 Ibid. 



32 Border Warfare in Pe7insylvania. 

the English General told them what "had befallen the 
King's subjects, and said, now is the time for you to help 
the King. The war has commenced. Assist the King 
now and you will find it to your advantage. Go now 
and fight for your possessions, and whatever you lose of 
your property during the war the King will make to you 
when peace returns. The Canghnawaga Indians then 
joined themselves to us. We immediately commenced 
in good earnest, and did our utmost during the war."^ 

Brandt next visited "The Great King," as the British 
Monarch was styled by the Indians, arriving in I^ondon 
early in 1776. He probably made the visit to satisfy him- 
self as to the wisdom of his agreement so hastily made at 
Montreal. What were the particular arguments addressed. 
to the Mohawk in the British Capital, to convince him 
that the arms of the King would be victorious in the end, 
is not known. It is certain, however, that whatever 
doubts he may have had were effectually dispelled ; since, 
in May following, we find him with 600 warriors at the 
massacre of the Cedars, where the savages, under the 
command of a British officer, but not within his control, 
murdered several American prisoners, and excited the 
strongest feelings of indignation in America.^ Washing- 
ton, July 15th, writes to the President of Congress that 
the inhuman treatment accorded to the American pris- 
oners, and the murder of some of them, deserved measures 
of retaliation of the severest kind. Although an Indian 
policy had already been devised in the Colonies, it was 
radically modified about this time. Previously it had 
been one of conciliation. 

The first reference in the ' 'Journal of Congress ' ' to 



1 Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 1, p. 90. 

2 American Archives, 5th series, vol. 1, pp. 350 and 1573. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 33 

the Indians was made June ist, 1775.^ A petition from 
Fort Pitt, intimating ** fears of a rupture with the Indians 
on account of Lord Dunmore's conduct," and desiring 
" commissioners from the Colony of Virginia and the 
Province of Pennsylvania to attend a conference of the 
Indians at Pittsburg, on behalf of the Colonies," was re- 
ferred to the delegates of these two Colonies. A few 
weeks later, ^ information had reached Congress that Gov- 
ernor Carleton was " instigating the Indian Nations to 
take up the hatchet against them." On July ist, it was 
resolved ^ that in case any British agent should induce 
any of the Indian tribes to commit actual hostilities, the 
Colonies should seek to make an alliance with such tribes 
in opposition to the British. For the purpose therefore 
of closer observation and more efficient action in respect 
to the Indian relations, an Indian Department, with three 
subdivisions — a Northern, Middle and Southern — was 
created, July 12th,* and commissioners were appointed 
for each. They had " power to treat with the Indians in 
their respective departments in the name, and in behalf, 
of the United Colonies, in order to preserve peace and 
friendship with the said Indians, and to prevent their 
taking any part in the present commotions . ' ' Money was 
appropriated to the commissioners for defraying the ex- 
pense of treaties and presents ; and power was given to 
them to arrest and take into safe custody the King's 
agents, or any other person whatsoever, that might be 
found inciting the Indians against the Colonies. The 
form of an address to the several tribes in all the depart- 
ments was agreed upon, to be altered as occasion might 
require, for local adaptation. That its purpose was to 

1 Vol. 1, p. 105. 

2 Secret Journal, p. 19. 

3 Journals of Congress, vol. 1, p. 132 

4 Ibid, p. 151. 



34 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

secure neutrality, is evident from these words : " This is 
a family quarrel between us and old England. You In- 
dians are not concerned in it. We do not wish you to 
take up the hatchet against the King's troops. We de- 
sire you to remain at home, and not join on either side, 
but keep the hatchet buried deep." 

No time was lost by the commissioners in the adop- 
tion of measures to carry out this policy. A council-fire 
was kindled by the commissioners of the Northern De- 
partment at the German Flats, for such of the Six Na- 
tions who had not followed Brandt. It continued at 
Albany, in the month of August, for three weeks. The 
address of Congress was read to them, and pronounced 
by them as containing ' ' nothing but what was pleasant 
and good."i The reply, however, gave evidence that 
the ' ' forked tongue ' ' of Guy Johnson had been speaking 
to them. Requests were made for lands unjustly taken , to 
be restored by the Colonies. ' ' If you refuse to do this, ' ' 
said lyittle Abraham, the Mohawk sachem of the Lower 
Castle, *' we shall look upon the prospect as bad ; for, if 
you conquer, you will take us by the hand and pull us all 
ofi". ' ' Allusion was also made by an Oneida chief to the 
pending bloody and bitter controversy between Connecti- 
cut and Pennsylvania, in the territory of Wyoming. The 
result, however, was highly satisfactory to the commis- 
sioners, and apparently so to the Indians. Most unfor- 
tunately, the Indians on their return from Albany were 
seized with a malignant fever, which carried off great 
numbers of them. The survivors regarded it as a Divine 
visitation for not having joined the side of the King. The 
events of no distant day proved that the Albany treaty 
had accomplished no permanent good . 



1 stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 1, pp. 94-104. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 35 

The same fine promises were received in October by 
the commissioners of the Middle Department at Pittsburg. 
A strict neutrality was urged upon the Indians, and they 
agreed to it. Yet in November following they impor- 
tuned Governor Hamilton, at Detroit, for his assent to 
make inroads on the frontiers of Pennsylvania. ^ In July, 
1776, another conference was held at Pittsburg, and 
neutrality promised by the Delawares, Shawanese and 
Mingoes. 2 The Iroquois, too, announced that their tribes 
would permit neither the Americans nor the English to 
march an army through their territory. Yet at the same 
time a party of Mingoes tried to kill the American Indian 
agents, and some of the Shawanese warriors journeyed 
dov/n to the Cherokees and gave them the war-belt. 

Whatever Congress did, therefore, in 1775, respecting 
Indian relations, was in the line of neutrality. It is true, 
Massachusetts, before the encounter at Lexington and 
Concord, had enlisted in its service a company of Minute 
Men among the Stockbridge or River Indians residing in 
that Colony, and had even written a letter to Rev. Samuel 
Kirkland, a missionary to the Indians in the western part 
of New York : * ' That you will use your influence with 
them to join with us in the defense of our rights ; but, if 
you cannot prevail with them to take an active part in 
this glorious cause, that you will at least engage them to 
stand neuter, and not by any means to aid and assist our 
enemies."^ The Stockbridge Indians were retained in 
service for some time after the war began, and came down 
and joined the camp at Cambridge. 

Outside of this act of the Provincial Congress of Massa- 
chusetts, no effort was made to engage the Indians in 



1 History of the Girtys, p. 37. 

2 American Archives, 5th series, vol. 1, p. 36. 

3 Spark's Life and Writings of Washington, vol. 3, p. 495. 



36 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

active service until May 25th, 1776; Congress then re- 
solved ' ' that it was highly expedient to engage the In- 
dians in the service of the United Colonies ; ' ' and they 
empowered the Commander-in-Chief to employ in Canada 
and elsewhere a nnmber not exceeding 2,000, offering 
them " a reward of $100 for every commissioned officer 
and $30 for every private soldier of the King's troops that 
they should take prisoner in the Indian country or on the 
frontiers of these Colonies." The Indians of Penobscot, 
St. John's and Nova Scotia were likewise to be taken 
into the service. ^ Whether any of these Eastern Indians 
were ever employed is not known. Washington favored 
their employment, as appears from his correspondence 
with General Schuyler, in reference to the execution of 
the resolutions of 1776; ^ and later again, when he wrote 
from Valley Forge, in 1778,'^ for a body of 400 warriors 
authorized by Congress. However, he wanted them di- 
vested of the savage customs exercised in their wars 
against each other, and used as scouts and light troops 
mixed with Continental parties. Schuyler did not favor 
the scheme, and wanted to know where 2,000 warriors, 
not already in the service of the British, were to be found. 
He felt sure that what little aid the Americans could get 
from the Indians would cost more than it was worth. 

Schuyler's position was proven to be correct. Even 
the British were greatly disappointed. Though they were 
successful in getting the Indians to join their armies, yet 
the results were not commensurate with the cost, espe- 
cially when it is considered what opprobrium attached to 
their employment. Burgoyne's experience with them 
aroused the indignation of his own country. Though he 



1 Secret Journals, May 25th, June 3rd, 8th and 17th. 

2 Spark's L,ife and Writings of Washington, vol. 3, p. 406. 

3 Ibid, vol. 5, p. 274. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 37 

tried to restrain the excesses and barbarities of the In- 
dians under his command, charging them only to kill 
those opposing them in arms, and to spare old men, 
women, children and prisoners, yet friends of the Royal 
cause, as well as its enemies, were victims to the indis- 
criminate rage of the savages. It was ascertained that 
even the British ofl&cers were deceived by their treacher- 
ous allies into the purchase of the scalps of their own 
comrades.^ Burgoyne commenced his campaign when 
the British Government had no more scruples in " letting 
loose the horrible hell-hounds of savage war," as Chat- 
ham said, and was fully prepared to do it. In his procla- 
mation to the Americans, June 29th, 1777,^ he says : "I 
have but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my 
direction, and they amount to thousands, to overtake the 
hardened enemies of Great Britain and America. I con- 
sider them the same wherever they lurk . . . The mes- 
sengers of justice and of wrath wait them in the field ; 
and devastation, famine and every concomitant horror 
that a reluctant, but indispensable, prosecution of mili- 
tary duty must occasion, will bar the way to their return. ' ' 
It was about the same time that the border warfare was 
begun on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, in pursuance of 
the suggestion to the Earl of Dartmouth by Governor 
Hamilton, in a letter written at Detroit, September 2, 
1776.^ Lord George Germaine, after duly weighing 
Hamilton's proposition, wrote from White Hall, March 
26, 1777, to Sir Guy Carleton that "it is his Majesty's 
resolution that the most vigorous efforts should be made, 
and every means employed that Providence has put into 
his Majesty's hands, for crushing the rebellion."^ He 

1 Life of Brandt, vol. 1, p. 205. 

2 Remembrancer, 1777, p. 211. 

3 Germaine to Carleton, Michig-an Pioneer Collections, vol. 9, pp. 346-47. 

4 Ibid. 



38 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

instructed Carleton to direct Hamilton, which was done 
May 2ist, to assemble as many of the Indians in his dis- 
trict as possible, and employ them in making a diversion 
and exciting an alarm upon the frontiers of Pennsylvania, 
restraining " them from committing violence on the well- 
affected and inoffensive inhabitants." 

Such was the Indian policy of the British Ministry 
when Burgoyne's savages went forth on their murderous 
mission, and brought disgrace and indignation upon his 
head. Their defeat at Oriskany, and their flight at St. 
Legers, contributed to the surrender of the army,^ while 
the bloody tale of Jane McCrea and her companions at 
Fort Edward made English statesmen blush with shame. ^ 
Said Earl Chatham : ' ' We have sullied and tarnished the 
armies of Britain forever, by employing savages in our 
service, by drawing them up in a British line, and mixing 
the scalping knife and tomahawk with the sword and fire- 
lock." Nor did the caution given to the Indians, not to 
slaughter the aged men, the w^omen and children, and the 
unresisting prisoners, and on no account to take scalps 
from wounded or dying men, excuse the British Ministry. 
* * Suppose, ' ' said Burke, ' * that there was a riot on Tower 
Hill. What would the keeper of his Majesty's lions do ? 
Would he fling open the dens of the wild beasts and then 
address them thus : * My gentle lions, my humane bears, 
my tender-hearted hyenas, go forth ! But I exhort you, 
as you are Christians and members of civilized societies, 
to take care not to hurt any man, woman or child ?' " 

As to whether the Americans or the British began the 
movement of employing the Indians, is an unsolved ques- 
tion. The blame for their cruelties on the border inhab- 
itants was laid at the door of the British Ministry by the 

1 Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. 19, p. 506. 

2 Ibid, p. 489. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 39 

Americans and by the Whigs of England.^ Burke said, 
the difference between employing savages against armed 
and trained soldiers, as the Americans had done, referring 
to the Stockbridge Indians, and employing them against 
the unarmed, defenseless men, women and children, left 
those who attempted so inhuman and unequal a retalia- 
tion without excuse. Lord Germaine said he had no al- 
ternative, for " they either would have served against us, 
or we must have employed them." Lord North looked 
upon the employment of Indians as bad, but unavoidable. 
If censure were to be meted out by the effects produced, 
England would have been much more reprehensible than 
the Americans. But when the intent is considered, and 
not the success of the measure, historical justice must 
award to the Americans a due share of the blame. ^ 
Neither the Americans nor the English found the Indians 
of any use as soldiers of the line. As the British occu- 
pied the frontiers, they could use them to harass the 
Americans in the rear, and draw off their forces from the 
seaboard. As offensive allies, the Indians were therefore 
of the greatest importance to the British ; while to the 
Americans, they could be of no advantage, except as 
neutrals. Bearing this in mind, it is readily seen why 
Congress m'ade treaties of neutrality and the British sought 
to break them. 

To defend the frontiers against the Indians thus allied 
with the British, and at the same time meet the calls of 
Congress for the war on the seaboard, was a tremendous 
task for the Colonies ; but none were put to the test more 
severely than Pennsylvania, with its long line of border 
settlements, its boundary disputes with Connecticut and 
Virginia, its heterogeneous population, its voluntary 

1 Almon's Parliamentary Register, vol. 8, pp. 349-353. 

2 Sparks. 



40 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

militia, and its conscientious scruples against war. The 
only other Colonies whose frontier exposure could com- 
pare with that of Pennsylvania were New York and Vir- 
ginia. But while New York had its Mohawk Valley and 
Virginia its Ohio Valley to defend, Pennsylvania had its 
Delaware, Wyoming, West Branch, Juniata and Ohio 
Valleys to defend. While New York had its Tryon 
county and Virginia its West Augusta and Kentucky dis- 
tricts on the frontier, Pennsylvania had its Northampton, 
Northumberland, Bedford and Westmoreland counties. 
In three of these five frontier valleys of Pennsylvania 
there was at the outbreak of the Revolution a fierce civil 
strife raging. 

In the North and West Branch valleys of the Susque- 
hanna the Pennamite and Yankee war was at its height 
at the outbreak of ti^e Revolution. On the 28th of Sep- 
tember, 1775,^ a plantation on the West Branch, about 
sixty miles above Sunbury, was attacked by a body of 
Northumberland militia, who, after killing one man and 
wounding several others, made prisoners of the other set- 
tlers, and conducted them to Sunbury. About the same 
time a number of boats trading down the North Branch 
from Wyoming, were attacked and plundered by the 
Pennamites. " Considering the most perfect union be- 
tween all the Colonies necessary," Congress, November 
4th, 2 passed resolutions urging Pennsylvania and Con- 
necticut to take speedy measures to prevent such hostili- 
ties. The voice of Congress, however, was unheeded. 
By authority of Governor Penn, Colonel Plunkett, of 
Sunbury, was authorized to raise a force and expel the 
Connecticut settlers from Wyoming. When Congress 
heard of this movement, it again passed resolutions urging 

1 Stone's History of Wyoming-, p. 187. 

2 Journals of Congress, vol. 1, pp. 215-216. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 41 

Peunsylvanians to refrain from hostilities until the dispute 
could be legally decided.^ Colonel Plunket had already 
marched ; and in the closing days of December he en- 
countered the Yankees at Nanticoke Falls. One of his 
men was killed by the first fire and several others wounded. 
Other circumstances being likewise unfavorable, he aban- 
doned the expedition. The civil feud now ceased. Con- 
gress recommended to Connecticut not to introduce any 
more settlers into Wyoming ; ^ while the Proprietors of 
Pennsylvania, having lost their government, were no 
longer able to continue hostilities. Both Colonies laid 
their differences aside for the time being, and joined in 
the common cause of liberty. 

Excepting some correspondence between Virginia and 
Pennsylvania at the opening of the French and Indian 
War, their boundary question was no cause of difference 
until 1774. In that year Dunmore took possession of Fort 
Pitt, changed the name, and made John Connelly Com- 
mander of the militia. For calling the militia to meet 
him early in 1774, Connelly was arrested by St. Clair, 
magistrate of Westmoreland county . What followed then 
until ' ' the shot that was heard around the world ' ' was 
fired at Lexington, can best be told from the circular 
issued by the delegates of the two Colonies in Congress,^ 
urging the people to mutual forbearance : 

*' We recommend it to you that all bodies of armed men, 
kept up by either party, be dismissed ; and that all those on 
either side, who are in confinement or on bail for taking part 
in the contest, be discharged." 

There was no Colony among the thirteen that had so 
great a diversity of nationality and religion — elements that 

1 Journals of Congrsss, vol. 1, p. 279. 

2 Ibid, p. 283. 

3 The Olden Time, vol. 1, p. 444. 



42 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

go far to determine a man's attitude on any question — as 
Pennsylvania. The population of all the others was quite 
homogenous, and it was therefore comparatively easy to 
cement it in favor of any line of action. Not so in Penn- 
sylvania. There were three political parties more or less 
defined, in the Province, in 1775 : ^ the friends of the ex- 
isting Government, composed chiefly of the adherents of 
the Proprietaries, royalists from conscientious opinion 
and from religious scruples, and the greater portion of 
the Society of Friends ; the Revolutionary or active-move- 
ment party ; and a third class of men, earnestly devoted 
to the cause of the Colonies, but more or less anxious for 
reconciliation. The first and third were greatly in the 
majority. The first comprised the Quakers, who, with 
the Proprietary party, at that time controlled the Assem- 
bly. The Germans, from a sense of gratitude to Penn for 
their homes and liberties, acted with the Quakers. The 
third party comprised nearly all of those who were recog- 
nized as the political leaders of the day — Franklin, Dick- 
inson, Reed, Morris, Mifflin, McKean, Clymer and others. 
The second class were the Scotch-Irish, but they were far 
removed from the seat of the Government, and before the 
declaration of independence had very little political in- 
fluence. 

The Quakers and the German sects were opposed to 
war on account of religious scruples . This fact had caused 
a bitter feeling against them on the part of the Scotch - 
Irish. The latter had been bred to war before they came 
to America, and had no patience with non-resistance, but 
looked upon it as cowardice. Upon coming to Pennsyl- 
vania, they soon made havoc of the Quaker peace policy. 
Living on the frontier, they got into endless difficulties 



1 Reed's Joseph Reed, vol. 1, p. 151. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 43 

with the Indians, and, when war broke out, they became 
the special victims of the tomahawk and the scalping- 
knife. The Quakers sought to make peace through 
presents, treaties and missionaries. The Scotch-Irish 
protested against such a weak-kneed policy, and became 
the enemies of the very people who had suffered them to 
settle in Pennsylvania. Thus there came about a mutual 
feeling of hatred and distrust between those who governed 
and those who needed the support of the Government 
most. When the Revolutionary movement passed from 
constitutional opposition against British taxation to actual 
war, the Quakers and the German non-resistants assumed 
a neutral and indifferent position, while the frontiersmen 
were eager for the fray. The very fact that these had not 
affiliated socially or politically with the ruling classes of 
Philadelphia, and the counties immediately around the 
city, left them independent. They were not bound by 
any personal considerations to act with those who deter- 
mined the policy of the Province from 1774- 1776. Three 
months before the first Continental Congress met, the 
Scotch-Irish and German borderers of Hanover, York 
county, resolved among other things, ** that in the event 
of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us 
by the strength of arms, our cause we leave to Heaven 
and our rifles." ^ This action on the frontier was in 
strong contrast with that of the Quakers and German 
sects, who memorialized the Assembly to be excused from 
military service on the ground that the charter granted 
them particular immunity. ^ Compare it, too, with that 
of the Assembly at Philadelphia, whose uncertain course 
in 1 774- 1 775 ^ gave rise to the Provincial Convention of 



1 Pennsylvania Associatorsand Militia, vol. 1, p. 271. 

2 Votes of the Assembly, vol. 6, p. 634; also, Ibid, p. 645. 

3 Reed's Joseph Reed, vol. 1, p. 162. 



44 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

1776, and caused its own death on the 26th of September. 
When ' * the House then rose, ' ' the sword was unsheathed ; 
the Hanoverian resolution was put into effect against the 
British ; and the Scotch-Irish Indian policy was practiced 
on the frontier : 

• * And when the I^ord thy God shall deliver them be- 
fore thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them ; 
thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy 
unto them." — Deuteronomy vii : 2. 

Nor did this change of policy in reference to the enemy 
on the front and the enemy on the rear come any too soon. 
The doctrine of non-resistance had prevented the estab- 
lishment of an efficient system of defense in Pennsylvania. 
Howe and the Indians both threatened invasion in the 
summer of 1776 ; yet there was no force to oppose either, 
except the old voluntary militia established through the 
efforts of Franklin back in 1 744 . The war between France 
and England, begun in that year, threatened to affect the 
Western frontier. The Delawares had just been peremp- 
torily ordered from the Forks of the Delaware, and the 
wrongs of the walking purchase rankled deep in their 
breasts. Franklin then came forward with the famous 
pamphlet, •* Plain Truth." ^ It was a strong plea for 
military defenses based on the homely saying, that " when 
the steed is stolen, you shut the stable door." 

The first effort to enroll the Quakers in a militia had 
been made by Governor Evans, ^ but he was too impru- 
dent to succeed. Then William Penn, Jr., in his instruc- 
tions to Governor Keith, ^ suggested a militia on condi- 
tion of exempting the Quakers. Owing to the Governor's 
popularity with the Assembly, he received permission to 



1 Franklin's Works, vol. 3, p. 4. 

2 Pennsylvania Colony and Commonwealth, p. 43. 

3 Colonial Records, vol. 3, p. 64. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 45 

establish one. In Governor Thomas' administration, 
when the Spanish war was on, the question again came 
up. The Assembly now said : " The Quakers do not (as 
the world is circumstanced) condemn the use of arms in 
others, yet are principled against it themselves." ^ They 
gave him permission, in the name of the Proprietary, who 
was by Penn's charter ^ captain-general, to organize a vol- 
untary militia, without the aid of any laws, and without 
consulting the Assembly. He recruited 700 men under 
this arrangement, but so many indentured servants en- 
listed that the Assembly refused to vote supplies until 
these should be returned. This offer he rejected, and 
raised funds on the credit of the British Government. 
When, five years later, 1744, Franklin's *' Plain Truth " 
created a strong sentiment in favor of locking the stable 
in due time. Governor Thomas proceeded to enlist men 
from the combatant portion of the people, and asked for 
no assistance from the Assembly. Franklin assisted him, 
and in a few days they had enrolled 10,000 volunteers. 
They were called Associators, from the fact that they as- 
sociated for defense at public meetings ; and the name 
was retained by the militia of Pennsylvania down through 
the Revolution. After the defeat of Braddock, Franklin 
succeeded, November 25th, 1755, in getting the Assembly 
to pass an act forming and disciplining a voluntary 
militia.^ It was passed without much difficulty, because 
care had been taken to leave the Quakers and others con- 
scientiously opposed to war at liberty. The Associators 
were paid out of the Provincial treasury, and were sub- 
ject to the orders of the Governor. There was another 
class of soldiery in different parts of the Province, who, 



1 Votes of the Assembly, vol. 3, p. 362. 

2 Section 16. 

3 Franklin's Works, vol. 3, p. 78. 



46 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

"without call or authority from the Government, and 
without due order and direction among themselves," as- 
sembled ' ' on any occasional alarm, whether true or false, ' ' 
for the defense of their homes and families against the 
savages.^ They were the Rangers, and were usually 
mounted. They were paid, if at all, from local funds or 
by appropriations made after their service had been ren- 
dered. Their original duty was to range the woods for 
stray horses. ^ Such in general was the nature of the or- 
ganization of the militia, not as existing in 1775, but as 
known in the history of the Province. 

Active service among the Associators was revived by 
the following brief resolution of the Committee of Cor- 
respondence, passed in Philadelphia April 25th, the day 
following the arrival of the news from Lexington, ^ namely, 
to " associate together, to defend with arms their property, 
liberty and lives against all attempts to deprive them of 
it, ' ' This committee, through its branches in the various 
counties, had already, in 1774, passed resolutions all over 
the Province, pledging the inhabitants to support the acts 
of the Continental Congress for a redress of American 
grievances.* When peaceful measures were no longer 
possible, as evidenced April 19th, the tone of the resolu- 
tions changed.^ They " recommended to the inhabit- 
ants," of Lancaster county, for instance, " immediately 
to associate and provide themselves with arms and am- 
munition, and learn the art of military discipline to de- 
fend their just rights and privileges.^ 

On May 26th, Congress resolved that the Colonies be 



1 Preamble Militia Act of 1755. 

2 Votes of the Assembljs May 9th, 1724. 

3 Westcott's Philadelphia, vol. 1, p. 295. 

4 Pennsylvania Associators and Militia,l775-1783. 

5 Ibid. 

6 Ibid, vol. 1, p. 292. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 47 

put in a state of defense. ^ A more compact and energetic 
body was now required in Pennsylvania, and one that 
had more authority than the Committee of Correspond- 
ence. Accordingly, the Assembly, on June 30th, created 
the Council of Safety, which was delegated with power 
to call into actual service ' ' any number of the ofl&cers and 
private men of the association within this Colony." On 
the 3rd of August it appointed a committee to prepare 
rules and regulations in conformity to those adopted by 
Congress July iSth.^ All able-bodied men between 16 
and 50 were to form themselves into regular companies 
of militia, 83 rank and file. The companies were to be 
formed into regiments or battalions, and all officers above 
the rank of captain were to be appointed by the Assem- 
blies, or their authorized committees. People with reli- 
gious scruples were ' ' to contribute liberally in this time 
of unusual calamity, to the relief of their distressed breth- 
ren." One-fourth of the militia of each Colony were to 
serve as minute men, always ready for special call to ser- 
vice. Rules and regulations were published and sent to 
the county committees for the signatures of the Associa- 
tors. But many of them refused to sign because Congress 
had excused persons with scruples against war.^ After 
some hesitancy and delay, the Assembly, November 7th,* 
resolved that * ' all male white persons between the age of 
16 and 50, capable of bearing arms, who do not associate 
for the defense of the Province, ought to pay an equiva- 
lent for the time spent by the Associators in acquiring 
discipline ; ministers of the Gospel of all denominations 
and servants purchased bonafideiox valuable consideration 



1 Journal of Congress, vol. 1, p. 99. 

2 Journal of Congress, vol. 1. 

3 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 349. 

4 Votes of the Assembly, vol. 6, p. 646. 



48 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

only excepted." The county commissioners were em- 
powered to fine the non-Associators two pounds and ten 
shillings annually, in addition to the ordinary tax. This 
provision gave infinite trouble. The fines were not paid 
without force in many instances.^ The arms of non-As- 
sociators were to be surrendered for the use of the Asso- 
ciators, and this, too, resulted in serious conditions,^ 

The military association of 1775- 1776 having been 
hastily formed , and not enacted into law, but merely called 
into existence by the Committee of Correspondence, and 
afterwards approved by resolves of the Assembly, a move- 
ment was made after the State had been formed to pass 
a militia law. Accordingly, on March 17, 1777, the As- 
sembly, realizing that **the Freedom handed down by 
our virtuous Ancestors may be in danger of being wrested 
from us unless the strongest and most immediate Efforts 
are made for its support," passed an act to regulate the 
militia.^ It provided for a Lieutenant of the militia and a 
number of Sub -Lieutenants not exceeding five for each 
county, to be appointed by the President or Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Executive Council. They were to order the 
constables within their counties to make a return of every 
male white person between the age of 18 and 53, and ca- 
pable of bearing arms, excepting "delegates in Congress, 
members of the Executive Council, judges of the Supreme 
Court, masters and faculty of colleges, ministers of the 
Gospel and servants purchased bona fide and for a valua- 
ble consideration." Later, members of the Assembly 
were excepted, too.* They were then to divide each 
county into districts, each to contain not less than 440 nor 



1 Pennsylvania Associators, vol. 1, p. 546. 

2 Ibid, vol. 2, p. 601. 

.1 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 97. 
4 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 164. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 49 

more than 680 privates (1,000 in 1780),^ and to sub-di- 
vide the districts into eight parts, as nearly equal as pos- 
sible. This division being made, the men enrolled for 
militia duty in each district were to be called together by 
the Lieutenants to elect by ballot three field or battalion 
officers — Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major. These 
were to be freeholders, but in June following ^ an act was 
passed by which they were to be selected ' * on the Scale 
of their Merits rather than of their Estates." The in- 
habitants of the sub-districts were likewise to meet and 
elect by ballot company officers — one captain, tw^o lieu- 
tenants, one ensign and two courtmartial men. All these 
were to be commissioned by the Executive Council of the 
State. The Lieutenants were required to cause the sev- 
eral companies of militia in their respective precincts to 
be divided by lot into eight parts, to be called classes, as 
nearly equal as possible, and numbered from one to eight. 
The whole militia was subject to be exercised in compa- 
nies ten times in a year ; and in battalions, twice a year. 
In case of absence from drill, except on account of sick- 
ness or other accident, fines were collected after the man- 
ner of any other debt. 

In case of rebellion or invasion in the State, or in case 
Congress required assistance in the State or outside, the 
Executive Council could call into actual service such part 
of the militia as seemed necessary. The first draft was 
to be composed of the class number one of each com- 
pany ; and if that number was not sufficient, class num- 
ber two was to be drawn ; and so on by classes from time 
to time as occasion might require. Each class was liable 
to serve two months at a time, then to be relieved by the 



1 Law Book, toI. 1, p. 375. 

2 Ibid, p. 133. 



50 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

class next in numerical order, the relief to arrive two days 
before the expiration of the two months. In case of 
grave necessity, the Executive Council could call out 
one-half of any battalion or one-half of any company 
without respect to the rule, unless an Indian invasion in 
any county made their presence at home a necessity. ^ 
In 1779, the Executive Council was empowered to call 
out any part of the militia without regard to rotation or 
location. 2 The pay and rations for actual service was 
the same as that of the Continental troops, to be rated at 
twenty miles a day until the return home. In case a man 
could not serve or get a substitute, he was to pay a fine — 
equal to the average cost of substitutes, as determined 
after their return. This was modified^ so as to require 
the payment of a definite amount at once — forty pounds 
— unless a substitute was produced of and belonging to 
the family of the man who would or could not march. 
Serving as a substitute did not excuse the substitute from 
serving in his own turn. Almoners — one in each sub- 
district — were appointed to look after and provide for the 
needs of poor families while the fathers were on their own 
turn of service.^ Subjoined to the act of organization 
were twenty-eight wholesome rules and regulations, by 
which the militia were to be governed. 

On the 20th of December of the same year,^ i779> after 
the first serious inroads of the savages on the Western 
frontier, an act was passed to empower certain commis- 
sioners, appointed by Congress, to take vigorous measures 
for the defense of the terror-stricken inhabitants in that 
quarter. The Lieutenants and the sub-Lieutenants of 



1 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 163. 

2 Ibid, p. 280, 

3 Ibid, p. 163. 

4 Ibid, p. 134. 

5 Ibid, p. 149. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 51 

Bedford and Westmoreland counties were empowered and 
enjoined, if applied to by the commissioners, " to take 
the most speedy and effectual measures for raising and 
embodying, whether of classes or otherwise, such parts 
of the militia of their counties as shall from time to time 
be deemed necessary." They were to serve for two 
months or longer, and not again do duty for two succeed- 
ing tours, or the space of time required for any expedition 
upon which they might go. 

In March, 1780, the Lieutenants of the several coun- 
ties were authorized to raise a corps of light-horse, six 
privates for each battalion of infantry.^ On the 26th of 
May following, still another class of military was organ- 
ized, the Pennsylvania Volunteers.^ Frequent calls of 
the militia had proved very inconvenient, especially in 
seed time and harvest. As a remedy, each and every 
company of militia in the State was to provide or hire 
two able-bodied men, not less than 18 or more than 45, 
to be formed into a company for the defense of the State. 
It was organized in June, and was to serve till January 
15th, 1 78 1, the season of the year when Indian incursions 
were most frequent. 

As the first movement for ' ' obstructing a communi- 
cation between the Southern and Northern Goverments ' ' 
contemplated the raising of Tories and Indians, the de- 
molishing of Fort Pitt and an attack of the frontier set- 
tlements in Western Pennsylvania,^ so the first alarm of 
an Indian war came from that quarter.* It was sounded 
at Pittsburg May i6th, 1775, at a meeting of the inhab- 
itants on the frontier held to approve of New England's 



1 Law Book, vol. 1, p. 376. 

2 Ibid, p. 390. 

3 ConneUy to Gagre. American Archives, 4th series, vol, 3, p, 1661. 

4 Augusta County (Virginia) Committee Minutes, The Olden Time, vol. 
1, p. 273. 



52 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

opposition to the * * invaders of American rights and privi- 
leges." Dunmore and Connelly could not conceal their 
plot from those vigilant patriots, who realized even then 
that border warfare was to be inaugurated to engage their 
attention, and divert it from that interesting object of 
liberty and freedom. They accordingly resolved to cul- 
tivate friendship with the Indians, threatened condign 
punishment in case any person should take the life of a 
friendly Indian, and sent a petition to Congress intimat- 
ing ' ' fears of a rupture with the Indians on account of 
Lord Dunmore's conduct." ^ At the same time they or- 
ganized independent companies, gathered up such arms 
and ammunition as were not employed in actual service, 
and wrote to the Council of Safety for powder and lead.^ 
The frontiersmen assembled at Fort Pitt in 1775, also saw 
through the deep designs of the Quebec act, passed by 
the British Parliament the year before. This act extended 
the boundaries of Canada southward to the Ohio river, 
in defiance of the territorial claims of Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, New York and Virginia. The territory was to 
be governed by a vice-roy with despotic powers ; and such 
people as should come to live there were to have neither 
popular meetings, nor habeas corpus, nor freedom of the 
press. ^ " This," said Lord Thurlow, " is the only sort 
of constitution fit for a colony." To be exposed to such 
a country was fraught with great danger to Western Penn- 
sylvania. The frontiersmen realized this, and asked for 
support to stand * ' against the inroads of the savages and 
the militia " from the adjoining '* Indian country and the 
Province of Quebec." 

For very natural reasons, the settlements at Wyoming 



1 Journal of Congress, vol. 1, p. 105. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 647. 

3 Cobbett'8 Parliamentary History, vol. 17, p. 1361. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 53 

were also harrassed with fears of Indian outbreaks in 
1775. The quarrels between the Yankees and the Penna- 
mites made the frontier on the Susquehanna a vulnerable 
point. On the Western frontier we found the inhabitants 
of Westmoreland county arrayed against those of the dis- 
trict of West Augusta, and the Indians ready to pounce 
down upon them both. On the Northern frontier, the 
savages were ready to take advantage of the quarrels be- 
tween the counties of Northampton and Northumberland 
and the township of Westmoreland . The New Englanders 
were situated on the very borders of the Indian towns, 
which spotted the upper branches of the Susquehanna, 
several of them being within the town of Westmoreland. 
The conduct of the Indians gave strong indications of 
hostility at the time of Colonel Plunkett's expedition.^ 
The Connecticut men blamed the Pennsylvanians for in- 
tercepting Indian supplies transported up the Susque- 
hanna, and thereby inviting an attack upon the settle- 
ment. Furthermore, Wyoming was an outpost whose 
isolation was complete. The distance to the nearest set- 
tlement on the Delaware or the Susquehanna was seventy 
miles. When, therefore, Connecticut prohibited any 
further emigration to Wyoming without special license 
from the General Assembly, ^ it proved to be a great hard- 
ship ; for it meant that those already there would alone 
have to carry out the patriotic resolves of August 8th, 
1775,^ and meet the attacks of the savages in the course 
of the war. 

The year 1775 had brought nothing more serious to 
the frontier than rumors and suspicions of Indian attacks. 
The plans of Dunmore and Comply had come to grief. 



1 American Archives, Series 4, vol. 3, p. 1964. 

2 Miner's History of Wyoming', p. 177. 

3 Ibid, p. 165. 



54 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

and the Colonies still presented an unbroken front to the 
British, from Georgia to New Hampshire. In 1776, the 
plan of the English armies was to conquer the Hudson 
river, and thus cut the Colonies in two. General Howe 
was to capture the city of New York, while General 
Carleton was to descend from Canada, recapture Ticon- 
deroga, and take possession of the upper Hudson and the 
Mohawk. To aid in this campaign, the Indians were 
employed as regular troops in the British army. Guy 
Johnson and Brandt both had been in England in the win- 
ter of 1 775- 1 7 76, and made the final arrangements for their 
employment. Though the Americans had succeeded, in 
1775, in getting promises of neutrality, all hopes of con- 
tinuing it were now dispelled ; for most of the Indians 
that had not gone with Guy Johnson and Brandt to Canada 
to join the British army, gave numerous evidences of hos- 
tility to the frontier settlements. 

The minutes of the Council of Safety show that as 
early as January 8th, 1776,^ Colonel St. Clair and Richard 
Butler petitioned for the public powder then in West- 
moreland county to remain there as the property of the 
Province, but not to be used except in the defense of the 
county. It is evident that the plottings of Dr. Connelly, 
which had just fully come to light, gave great uneasiness 
to the Western frontier. Of all the men in Western Penn- 
sylvania at that time, St. Clair and Butler were best in- 
formed as to the state of that country, Arthur St. Clair 
came to America from Scotland in 1758, as an ensign in 
the British army. He served under Wolte at Quebec. 
He married in Boston, and after resigning the lieuten- 
ancy, to which he had been promoted, came to Western 
Pennsylvania to take up some land granted to him by 



1 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 449. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 55 

General Gage. ^ Here he became a trusted military officer 
uuder the British, and a civil magistrate under the Penns. 
In the latter capacity he had entire control of local affairs 
in Westmoreland county, and through his zeal for Penn- 
sylvania in the dispute with Virginia, incurred the ill-will 
of lyord Dunmore and Dr. Connelly. When the Revolu- 
tion commenced, he sided at once with the Colonies. He 
was the leader of the patriots at home, and kept those in 
Philadelphia informed of the state of the frontier about 
Fort Pitt. Soon after the writing of the petition just al- 
luded to, he was commissioned colonel in the Continental 
service. He rose rapidly, and became a major general. 
After the Revolution, he served his State in the Council 
of Censors and in the Congress, being President of the 
latter body at the time of the passage of the Ordinance of 
1787. Having taken an active interest in establishing 
the Northwest Territory, he was made its first Governor, 
thus rounding out most fitly his career as a frontiersman. 
Richard Butler was a native of Ireland, and came with 
his father to Lancaster county in 1748, and shortly after- 
wards to the sunset side of the Alleghenies. About 1770, 
he and his brother settled at Fort Pitt, and entered into 
partnership as Indian traders. In the troubles with Vir- 
ginia, Butler espoused the cause of Pennsylvania. When 
the Middle Department of Indian Affairs was created by 
Congress, he was one of the agents of the commissioners 
— a position for which he was well fitted. He served 
with great usefulness for more than a year in this position. 
On July 20th, 1776, he was elected by Congress major of 
the battalion ordered to be raised for the defense of the 
Western frontiers. Major Butler soon afterwards became 
lieutenant colonel in Daniel Morgan's famous rifle corps. 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 10, p. 483. 



56 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

which in no small degree he helped to make the finest 
marksmen in the world, as General Burgoyne pronounced 
them to be after the battle of Stillwater. After the Revo- 
lution, Butler again entered the Indian service as super- 
intendent of the Northern District. His career ended 
while he was with St. Clair in his expedition against the 
Indians in 1791. Wounded several times in that disas- 
trous battle on the banks of the Wabash, he was finally- 
tomahawked by an Indian, but, before he died, put a bul- 
let through the breast of his savage assailant. 

The scarcity of powder, hinted at by St. Clair and 
Butler, as well as of lead, was a serious matter on the 
frontier. Nine days after their petition, the Council of 
Safety inserted the following advertisement in the news- 
papers of Philadelphia : ^ 

** Such persons as are willing to erect powder mills in this 
Province, within fifty miles' distance of this city, are desired 
to apply to the Committee of Safety, who will lend them money 
on security if required for that purpose, and give them other 
encouragement. " 

A liberal response was made to this advertisement from 
Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester and other counties around, 
and a committee was appointed for the purpose of erect- 
ing powder mills. ^ There was a constant demand from 
the frontier for powder, and jealousies arose when one 
county was ordered to deliver some of its stores to another. 
When the Committee of York county was ordered to ship 
some to Northampton and Northumberland for the attack 
on Wyoming, they said it was " a disgrace to the sons of 
America ! Tell it not in Gath ! ' ' that powder and lead 
originally destined for the defense of the whole United 
Colonies, should be employed in an unhappy affair be- 



1 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 455. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 709 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 57 

tween two of them . Congress needed powder at the front , 
the Province needed it for practice in the militia, and the 
frontier needed it in the preparation for defense. It was 
so scarce later on, that the morning and evening guns on 
the warships of the Delaware had to be forbidden. Cau- 
tious against waste were frequently thrown out by the 
Council of Safety. The mills were in constant danger, 
too, of being blown up by Tories, and had to be guarded 
by the militia. One of them did explode, and evidence 
of disloyal threats was brought out in the investigation . 

Much of the difi&culty in the supply of powder was due 
to a lack of knowledge in the making of saltpetre. ^ Its 
manufacture in Philadelphia, in 1775, was so unsuccess- 
ful that one Baltzer Monday, evidently a German, was 
sent down from York Town to * * instruct any who may 
chuse to learn." York Town had also sent a saltpetre 
maker to Maryland ; and Virginia had then not made 
twenty tons all told. ' ' 'Tis a shame for America, ' ' writes 
the York County Committee to the Council of Safety, 
* * when we have so many people who have wrought many 
years at making saltpetre in Germany, and understand it 
as well as any of our old women making soap, that so 
much has been said and so little done in an article so 
essential to the safety of America ; it is true, they are but 
mechanics, and don't understand theory, but let them 
make a sufi&ciency for our present wants, and let the theo- 
rists improve and amend their defects at leisure." 

The scarcity of lead was even greater than that of gun- 
powder ; for it was recommended in May, 1776, by the 
Council of Safety, ^ that all the inhabitants of Philadelphia 
send in all such lead as they might have in use in their 
families and about their houses, such as draught weights 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 668. 

2 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 558. 



58 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

and window weights, also clock weights, for which iron 
weights could be procured to supply their private con- 
venience. The liberal price of six pence per pound was 
allowed. Two years later the attention of the Supreme 
Executive Council was called to the existence of lead in 
Sinking Valley, ^ then in Bedford county, now in Blair. 
Some few persons had found their way to the mines, raised 
small quantities of ore and smelted it. The Council, act- 
ing on what are now termed ' ' populistic ' ' principles , 
seized the mines and operated them for the State. Gen- 
eral Daniel Roberdeau, then a member of Congress from 
Philadelphia, but before that a brigadier general in the 
militia, was made superintendent of the mining operations. 
He received leave of absence from Congress in order to 
attend to this work. Fears of Indian attacks made it nec- 
essary to erect a stockade fort, and garrison it with the 
militia. Roberdeau stayed at the mines only a short time, 
leaving the direction of affairs in the hands of experienced 
miners. Lead was taken out for about a year ; but how 
much is not known. The undertaking was not profita- 
ble. It proved a moth to the General's circulating cash, 
and obliged him to make free with a friend in borrowing. 
He had to ask an enormous price for the lead on account 
of the depreciation of Continental money, and was handi- 
capped in the working of the mine by want of protection 
against the Indians. 

After the application of St. Clair and Butler for pow- 
der and lead, as summer drew nearer, the people on the 
Western frontier became more anxious. Indian attacks 
were most frequent when the settlers were busy in the 
fields, especially in harvest time. In March, Bedford and 
Cumberland counties were requested by the Council of 



1 History of Juniata VaUey, pp. 231-240. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 59 

Safety, "in case the inhabitants of Westmoreland were 
attacked by an enemy, to spare them the necessary pow- 
der belonging to the public for their defense. " ^ In April 
Kiashuta appeared before Richard Butler (See page 27), 
with an invitation to come to Niagara ; and McKee, the 
suspect, had received a request to invite all the Indians 
he might see to attend the meeting of the British agent. 
Although the old Seneca chief was warned ' ' to hearken 
to no speeches that tend to disturb the peace of the coun- 
try," his return from Niagara was awaited with anxiety. 
Kiashuta was a distinguished character among the Six 
Nations from the time of Washington's first visit to the 
Ohio, whom he accompanied from Logstown to Le Boeuf. 
He survived all the troubles of the French war, of Pon- 
tiac's war — in which his part was so prominent that it 
was sometimes called Kiashuta 's war — and of the Revo- 
lution. He died near Pittsburg, and left his name to the 
beautiful plain on the Allegheny river, where his remains 
now rest. 2 Two days after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, Kiashuta was back, and attended a meeting of the 
Congressional Committee for the Middle Department of 
Indian Affairs. He produced a belt of wampum from the 
Six Nations to the Delawares, Shawanese, Wyandots and 
other western Indians, informing them that the Six Na- 
tions would take no part in the war, and desiring them 
to do the same. He had authority to say that " the Six 
Nations would make it their business to prevent either an 
American or an English army passing through their 
country." ^ As the neighboring tribes were not repre- 
sented, another meeting was held near Fort Pitt in Octo- 
ber, when these, too, offered assurances of friendship. But 



1 Colonial Records, vol. 10, p. 525. 

2 Craie's History of Pittsburg-, p. 157. 

3 The Olden Time, vol. 2, p. 112. 



60 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

British influence from Detroit had to be combatted, and 
matters were discouraging at times. Shortly after the 
conference with Kiashuta, loo men, raised in Westmore- 
land, were engaged for service until September 15th. The 
danger became so threatening, that in September Con- 
gress 1 issued an order assembling all the militia that could 
be spared for the defense of Fort Pitt. Powder and lead, 
together with 10,000 flints, were forwarded to George 
Morgan, the Indian agent, who succeeded Colonel Butler. 
The militia in Cumberland county, ready to march to the 
assistance of Washington in New Jersey, were held for 
the defense of the frontiers until further orders. How- 
ever, Mr. Morgan wrote to John Hancock, November 
8th, " I have the happiness to inform you that the cloud 
which threatened to break over us is likely to disperse." 
In this he was not mistaken ; for, in connection with 100 
militia under Major John Neville, Morgan was enabled to 
maintain comparative peace during the winter of 1776- 
1777 at and around Fort Pitt. 

Morgan and Neville were two valuable men to Western 
Pennsylvania, The former was a resident of Fort Pitt at 
the close of the French and Indian war, having erected 
the first house with a shingle roof in the place. ^ Mor- 
ganza marks the site of an estate which he and his brother 
bought later. At the time of his appointment to the In- 
dian agency, he lived on a farm near Princeton, New 
Jersey. At Pittsburg he was kept in hot water all the 
time. That he discharged his duties to the satisfaction 
of the Indians was shown in 1779, when the chiefs of the 
Delawares sought to confer upon him the rich and fertile 
Sewickley " bottom," ^ in appreciation of his services in 

1 Journal of Congress, vol. 2, p. 350. 

2 History of Allegheny County, p. 444. 

3 Ibid, Part 2nd, p. 97. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 61 

their behalf while agent at Fort Pitt. Though he could 
not accept the offer, it must have been gratifying to him ; 
for he had just been acquitted of a charge of mismanage- 
ment and disloyalty. Later, in 1780, he again was made 
the target of criticism, and was removed from his posi- 
tion. ^ Colonel Brodhead, who was then in command at 
Pittsburg, expressed the desire to the Executive Council 
that a man with not so many farms and other interests 
might succeed him. Farming was Colonel Morgan's de- 
light ; for after the war he was again in New Jersey, the 
foremost farmer in America, ^ his broad fields being the 
admiration of travelers, and his products winning the 
prizes of agricultural societies.^ When Aaron Burr was 
on his expedition to Louisiana, he stopped with the Colonel 
at Morganza, and tried to persuade him to join. Both he 
and two of his sons attended Burr's trial at Richmond as 
witnesses. 

John Neville was a descendant of one of the boys kid- 
naped in England, and brought to Virginia, in the early 
history of that Colony. He was in Braddock's army, and 
thus learned to know Western Pennsylvania. Before 
1774, he had made large purchases of land on Chartier's 
Creek, and when the Revolution began he became a trusted 
patriot. The Virginia Provincial Convention ordered 
him, in August, 1775, to march with a company of 100 
men and take possession of Fort Pitt. The Virginia and 
Pennsylvania delegates in Congress had recommended 
that "all bodies of armed men in pay of either party 
should be discharged." As Pennsylvania had no armed 
men at Fort Pitt, the arrival of Captain Neville was not 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol.12, p. 249. 

2 Pennsylvania Hist. Mag., vol. 12, p. 102. 

3 Ibid, vol, 16, p. 171. 



62 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

welcome to St. Clair, ^ especially since it was contrary to 
what had been recommended. But without regard to the 
motives of Virginia, Neville's militia was needed at Fort 
Pitt to counteract the scheme of Connelly, and insure the 
safety of the frontier inhabitants, whether Virginians or 
Pennsylvanians. That he acted with prudence is proved 
by the fact that none of the evils predicted by St. Clair, 
in his letter to Governor Penn, occurred, Neville re- 
tained the command of Fort Pitt until the appointment of 
General Mcintosh by Congress, in 1778. He then served 
with much ability at the front, especially distinguishing 
himself in the Southern campaigns. At the close of the 
war, he returned to his estates in Allegheny county, and 
in 1 79 1 was made inspector of internal revenue. In this 
position he bore a prominent part in the famous ' ' Whiskey 
Rebellion , ' ' performing his duties loyally to the Federal 
Government, at the expense of his property and the peril 
of his life. 2 

On the Northumberland, or West Branch, frontier 
there was much less cause for fear and anxiety in 1776 
than on that of Westmoreland. Fort Augusta, now Sun- 
bury, was the headquarters of the military department ot 
the upper Susquehanna . The first battalion of Associators 
was organized February 8th, 1776,^ with Samuel Hunter 
as Colonel. Under the militia law of 1777, he was ap- 
pointed county lieutenant, and exercised authority to the 
close of the war. He was a native of Ireland, and is first 
mentioned in the history of Pennsylvania as in command 
of the militia at Fort Augusta, in 1763.* In November 
following, he was commissioned captain, and served in 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 659. 

2 Craig-'s History of Pittsburg, chapters 11-12. 

3 Pennsylvania Associators, vol. 2, p. 337. 

4 McGinness' History of West Branch, vol. 1, p. 284. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 63 

Bouquet's campaign the next year. He performed valua- 
ble services on the frontier, and served as a member of 
the Council of Censors in 1783. He died at Fort Augusta 
in 1784, and was buried there. 

The first intimation of fear in Northumberland con- 
cerning Indian attacks was given March 13th, 1776.^ The 
Committee of the county wrote to Colonel Hunter, who 
was then in Philadelphia for service to his country, to 
present their condition as a frontier county to the Council 
of Safety, and ask them, if more men were wanted, 
whether it would not be better to have two or three com- 
panies raised, officered and disciplined, and put into im- 
mediate pay ; and if not wanted nearer home, to be ready 
wherever needed. They also complained of recruiting 
officers from other counties coming to that infant frontier 
county and draining it of its single men, who " choose 
rather, under pay, to have to do with a humane enemy, 
than, at their own expense, encounter merciless savages." 
Two weeks later, the Committee wrote directly to the 
Council of Safety. They held that the safety of the " in- 
terior parts of the Province would be better secured by 
adding strength to the frontiers." They also gave the 
Council a glimpse into their condition as frontiersmen. 
The people were poor, many of them had come there 
" bare and naked," while those who had a little property 
were no better off on account of the delay in cultivating 
a wilderness before they could have any produce to live 
upon. A well-disciplined militia was not possible under 
such conditions. Some men had to lose two days in go- 
ing to muster ; and not being paid for it, they could not 
attend regularly. In spite of these untoward circum- 
stances, the Committee had the pleasure of informing the 



1 Pennsylratiia Associators, vol. 2, p. 342. 



64 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

Council, in June, that there were very few (if any) disaf- 
fected persons amongst them, and the non-Associators 
very inconsiderable. The greatest difficulty in the way 
of defense was that they were very ill-armed, having al- 
ready sent all the best arms with their men into the 
Continental and Provincial service. 

Another matter of great anxiety to the patriots on the 
North Branch was the scarcity of salt. But from this the 
people of the whole Province suflfered. The non-importa- 
tion act of the first Continental Congress had caused this 
dilemma. So, early in June, 1776, steps were taken by 
the Province to establish saltworks at Tom's River, New 
Jersey, to relieve public necessities and reduce the exor- 
bitant price of this article.^ In this way the Province, in 
November, was able to make a distribution among the 
counties according to their necessities. It was to be sold 
at fifteen shillings a bushel, and in quantities of not more 
than half a bushel to any one family. However, the price 
and quantity could not long be regulated. ^ The works 
of Tom's River proved of little account, and salt had to 
be procured from any source and at any price. On the 
frontier, it was especially hard to get. The militia that 
came from the back counties to the support of Washing- 
ton's army at Trenton and Princeton could not be sup- 
plied with the smallest quantity. 

Nothing further was said in Northumberland about 
fears of an Indian invasion until the close of July, when 
the delegates of the county to the Provincial Convention 
petitioned the Council of Safety for aid. A month later, 
John Harris wrote ^ from Paxtang that the Indians were 
for war, as had been learned from some twenty of them. 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 4, p. 771. 

2 Colonial Records, vol. 11, p. 41. 

3 Annals of Buffalo Valley, p. 97. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 65 

who had been at Sunbury. Captain John Brady had in- 
duced a few Senecas and Monseys to come to Fort Augusta 
to make a treaty; but nothing was accomplished, save 
the partial consumption of a barrel of whiskey by the 
savages, and the total destruction of the rest by Brady to 
avoid evil consequences. One of the Indians told him he 
would some day rue the spilling of that barrel. Whether 
Brady's death in 1779 was in payment of this threatened 
penalty cannot be known ; but, if it was, the barrel of 
whiskey was dearly paid for. Captain John Brady was 
born in Delaware, 1733, his father having emigrated from 
Ireland. The family removed to the Cumberland Valley, 
near Shippensburg, and John became a surveyor and pio- 
neer. After marrying, he lived at Standing Stone, now 
Huntingdon, till 1769, when he settled on the West 
Branch. In 1776, he was appointed a captain in the 12th 
Pennsylvania, and was wounded severely at Brandy wine. 
The Indians becoming troublesome on the Susquehanna, 
Washington ordered Captain Brady home to assist in the 
defense of the frontier. Before losing his own life, he was 
called upon to mourn the death of his son, James, who 
was killed by the Indians while he was reaping the har- 
vest. Captain John Brady was the head of an illustrious 
family. Sam, the oldest of six sons, and Hugh, the 
youngest, both served their country well — Sam as the 
famous scout and Indian fighter, and Hugh as a General 
in the United States Army. 

The first reference to Indian incursions on the records 
of Northampton county is found on the minutes of the 
Standing Committee, of August 8th, 1776, when the com- 
mitteemen of each township were summoned to meet at 
Easton, " the i6th inst.," " to consult upon the safety of 
the county against incursions of the Indians." ^ On the 

1 Pennsylvania Associators, vol. 2, p. 613. 



66 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

day appointed it was resolved that ' * the militia of this 
county do not march to New Jersey according to the re- 
solves of the Convention ;" and further, that " a maga- 
zine of powder, lead and arms be immediately collected 
. . .for the defense of this county against incursions 
and depredations of the Indian enemy, and that the Stand- 
ing Committee write to the Convention or Council of 
Safety for such ammunition and arms." When it had 
become apparent that Howe, after leaving Boston, was 
making New York the objective point, Congress resolved 
to reinforce Washington with 13,800 militia, 10,000 of 
whom were to form the * ' Flying Camp . ' ' Pennsylvania 's 
quota was 6,000, and that of Northampton county, 346. 
At the time it was resolved at Easton that the militia 
should not march to New Jersey, the first installment was 
already on the way ; ^ and the Provincial Convention in 
Philadelphia had asked Congress not to march the rest 
with the Flying Camp . Dangers were reported from the en- 
tire frontier of the Province. It was then that the situation 
at Fort Pitt began to look critical. Accordingly, on 
August loth, the Provincial Convention ^ excused the 
Associators of Northumberland, Northampton, Bedford 
and Westmoreland counties from marching to the Jerseys 
until the danger from the Indians had subsided. The 
request of the Committee from Northampton seems to 
have become a popular one to make just then. On the 
15th of August, the township of Albany, in Berks county, 
also asked that its quota for the Flying Camp be excused 
from marching on the pretext that the Indians were com- 
ing. The Convention tabled this request. 

Northampton and Northumberland caused Wyoming 
no uneasiness in 1776, common interests having put a 

1 History of Lehigh and Carbon Counties, p. 13. 

2 Jonrnal of Representatives and Proceedings of Committees, p. 68. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 67 

quietus on the civil feud ; but the Six Nations now began 
to threaten the Valley. As at Fort Pitt, the Indians com- 
mitted offenses against individuals only. A person, 
named Wilson, was attacked and roughly handled.^ 
Colonel Zebulon Butler, without any official authority, 
thereupon sent a messenger to the neighboring tribes to 
ascertain their intentions. A chief returned with the 
messenger. He said the Indians at the head of the Sus- 
quehanna were all one mind, and were all for peace. ^ He 
denied having had any hand in the attack upon Wilson. 
The messenger of Butler brought word back that the In- 
dians were very anxious for a council-fire to be held at 
Wyoming. Their importunity was so pressing that But- 
ler wrote Roger Sherman, member of Congress from Con- 
necticut, for advice. Butler wanted Connecticut to act, 
because when the Indians came to Westmoreland they 
expected presents and hospitality from him. He had 
frequently given them, but found the burden too great for 
one man to bear. They also wanted a United States flag. 
They probably had sinister motives in these requests.^ 
The council-fire was a scheme to get into Wyoming with- 
out creating alarm, and then treacherously to destroy the 
settlement ; while the flag would serve as a decoy on a 
fitting occasion. 

In September, a deputation of three chiefs arrived at 
Wyoming, and brought a ' ' Talk ' ' agreed upon by certain 
authorized chiefs.^ While it professed peaceable inten- 
tions, its tone was one of complaint. The request for a 
fire at Wyoming was repeated, " so that the flame and 
smoke may arise to the clouds." Figuratively taken, 



1 American Archives, vol. 2, series 5, p. 

2 Ibid, p. 825. 

3 Miner's History of Wyoming-, p. 185. 

4 Ibid, p. 186. 



68 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

this was quite prophetic of the massacre of 1778. The 
uneasiness in Wyoming and Northampton was the result 
of the retreat of the American army from Canada to Crown 
Point. Kvery artifice was used by Guy Johnson and John 
Butler to set the Indians on the frontiers of New York 
and Pennsylvania. A report had reached the Wyoming 
Valley in August that Colonel Butler was at Oswego 
" with Indians and Canadians." ^ 

As has been seen, the burden of Indian affairs rested 
on Zebulon Butler. He was born in Connecticut and died 
at Wilkesbarre. He served in the French and Indian 
War, and in the expedition to Havana, and rose to be a 
captain in 1761. He settled in Wyoming in 1769, and led 
the Yankees in the war with the Pennamites. He was 
moderator at the town meeting of Westmoreland, August 
24th, 1776, when steps were taken for the defense of 
Wyoming by the erection of forts — an act that aroused 
the insolence of the Indians who still dwelt in the valley. 
He was made Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment in the 
Connecticut Line, which contained the companies raised 
in Westmoreland. Butler became Colonel in March, 
1778, and while on a furlough he commanded the weak 
garrison at Wyoming in the massacre of July. He served 
with distinction throughout the war ; but on his arrival 
home was seized and without law was cast into prison for 
a brief time, because he threatened to set fire to a set of 
riotous soldiers just discharged. 

With the close of the year 1776, all hope of averting 
war with the Indians had disappeared. The accession of 
the savage interest to the cause of Great Britain was now 
complete. It was certain that the frontier settlements 
would be one line of murder and conflagration . Governor 
Hamilton, at Detroit, to whom the entire management of 

1 Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 187. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 69 

frontier afiairs had been entrusted, was ordered by Guy 
Carleton, October 6th, 1776, to enlist the Indians and 
have them ready in the spring. ^ The purpose of this at- 
tack on the frontier was to weaken the main army of the 
"Rebels" and facilitate the operations of Howe and Bur- 
goyne. Hamilton was fully aware of the importance of 
his part and played it well. He soon acquired the hatred 
of the "buckskins," who held him in abhorrence and 
nicknamed him the "hair-buyer" general. That he de- 
served this name is disputed ; but scalps were bought and 
paid for at Detroit. There is an account of an Indian, 
who, by dividing a large scalp into two, got $50 for each 
half at Detroit. 2 Franklin in his list of twenty-six British 
atrocities,'"^ gives the loth and 14th as — 

"The King- of Eng-land, giving^ audience to his Secretary of 
War, who presents him a schedule entitled Account oj Scalps ; 
which he receives very graciously." 

"The commanding officer at Niagara, sitting in state, a 
table before him, his soldiers and savages bring him scalps of 
the Wyoming families and presenting them. Money on the 
table with which he pays for them." 

It would seem that the British Government took the 
initiative in the matter of premiums for scalps, for it was 
not until 1779 that the subject was mentioned officially, 
in Pennsylvania at least. President Reed then inquired 
in a letter to Colonel I^ochry, stationed at Hannastown, 
whether the inhabitants on the frontiers desired a reward 
on Indian scalps.^ The reply was that they favored it, 
as it would give spirit and alacrity to the young men and 
make it their interest to be constantly on the scout. But 
Reed got no encouragement at that time from the people 



1 Haldimand MSS., Book 121 p. 3. 

2 The Winning of the West, vol. 2, p. 3. 

3 Franklin's Works, vol. 10, p. 73. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 362. 



70 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

in Philadelphia, nor from Congress.^ Early the next year, 
however, remembering with what advantage young men 
in former Indian wars went out in small parties to harass 
the enemy and strike them in their own homes, the 
Executive Council offered $i,ooo for every Indian scalp. ^ 
This step was undoubtedly taken, also, in view of the fact 
that the British had done so before. American prisoners 
who had been taken by the Indians and returned from 
Detroit and Niagara reported that rewards were paid for 
scalps at those places.^ It should be said that the offer 
of a premium for scalps was made in deference to the 
wishes of the distracted frontiersman at a time when there 
was no safety outside of the forts, when seeding and har- 
vesting had to be done under the protection of the militia, 
and when Detroit and Niagara were crowded with unfor- 
tunate captives. Furthermore, the offer was practically 
a dead letter, for President Reed repeatedly said that it 
was barren of results. Nor must the fact be overlooked 
that Congress had not sanctioned it, and that Continental 
ofi&cers refused to let it go into effect where they had juris- 
diction * 

General Carleton's injunction to Governor Hamilton 
to have the savages ready in the spring, was faithfully 
observed. Before the snow was off the ground, the war 
parties crossed the Ohio and fell on the Western frontier. 
Tories were at work, too. They sought to bring on a 
war with the savages by massacring friendly Indians 
who came to see the Indian agent. ^ Colonel Morgan felt 
obliged to let these messengers sleep in his own chamber 
for security. The Tories on the frontier were in a posi- 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 569. 

2 Ibid, vol. 8, p. 167. i* 

3 Ibid, p. 172. 

4 Ibid, vol. 12, p. 240. 

5 Ibid, vol. 5, p. 287, 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 71 

tion to do vastly more for the British cause than those in 
the interior. I,aw of any kind — civil or military — was 
not so readily enforced, especially around Fort Pitt, where 
the civil feud had not yet died out; escape from justice 
was more easy ; intrigues could be planned with greater 
security ; the fear from forfeiture of property in case of 
detection did not operate so strongly, for there was less 
attachment for hearth and home ; while a disaffected rifle- 
man from the frontier, fighting with the Indians, did more 
effective service than a Loyalist in the ranks of the British 
army. In fact, the Tories on the frontier were the leaders 
of the border warfare. They knew the Indians, their 
mode of warfare and their secret paths. Little wonder, 
therefore, that Lord Germaine was so anxious that "all 
such loyal subjects" should "engage in the King's ser- 
vice";^ and that the arrival of McKee, Elliott and Girty 
at Detroit, was especially commented upon in a letter by 
Hamilton to General Carletou.^ 

By the first of April, the whole Western frontier was 
in consternation. Death and captivity had struck such 
terror in the minds of the people that most of them fled 
to the heart of the settlement and a greater number over 
the mountains.^ Archibald Lochry, the Lieutenant of 
Westmoreland county, quickly raised a company of 
rangers, else the country would have been deserted. 
Lochry was a pillar in Westmoreland until he was killed 
in the wilderness of Ohio, while on an expedition against 
the Indians, in 1781. He was of Scotch-Irish birth, 
probably born in the Octarora settlement ; for in 1763 he 
was an ensign in the Second Battalion * of the Provincial 
troops. While in the service on the frontier, he formed 

1 Haldimand, MSS., Book 121, p. 8. 

2 Ibid, Book 122, p. 35. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 5, p. 344. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, vol. 2, p. 614. 



72 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

a desire for a home remote from the settlements, and so 
he took up a large tract of land between Greensburg and 
Ligonier. His official correspondence was dated at the 
"Twelve-Mile Run." 

The conditions as described by Morgan and I^ochry 
moved Congress, April 9th, to appoint an experienced 
officer to take command on the Western frontiers.^ Ac- 
cordingly, Brigadier- General Edward Hand was appointed 
and he assumed his duties June ist. Reports of Indian 
atrocities were forwarded by him to the Executive Coun- 
cil, with the request that the militia of Westmoreland and 
Bedford be placed under his orders. ^ The matter was 
laid before Congress, and on August i6th, that body 
passed a resolution desiring the Council to give the Gen- 
eral "such assistance from the militia of the counties of 
Westmoreland, Northumberland and Bedford" as he 
might "think necessary" to carry war into the Indian 
country. This was the beginning of the Indian expedi- 
tions of Pennsylvania. 

Edward Hand, M. D., was a native of Ireland and 
came to this country as a surgeon's mate in the Royal 
Irish regiment, 1767. Dr. Hand was stationed at Fort 
Pitt until 1774, when he resigned his commission and 
went to Lancaster to practice medicine. He gave his 
allegiance to the Colonies, engaged in the manufacture 
of rifles ^ and entered the army as Lieutenant Colonel in 
Thompson's famous Battalion of Riflemen. The rifle, in 
1775, was used only along the frontiers of Pennsylvania 
and the Soutiiern Colonies.* It had been introduced into 
Pennsylvania about 1700 by Swiss and Palatine immi- 
grants. The frontiersmen improved it and made out of 

1 Journal of Congress, vol. 3, p. 100. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 5, p. 143. 

3 Pennsylvania Magazines, vol. 14, p. 333. 

4 Harper's Majfaxine, May, 1899, The Birth of the American Army. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 73 

it a superior type of fire-arms. Over every cabin door 
hung a well-made and correctly-sighted rifle. As soon as 
a boy was big enough to level it, he was given powder 
and ball to shoot squirrels. The wars with the Indians 
taught the boys to keep cool and shoot straight under 
fire. These were the "expert riflemen" organized by 
Act of Congress, June 14th, 1775, into a corps of nine 
companies, from the counties of Cumberland, York, I^an- 
caster, Northumberland, Bedford, Berks and Northamp- 
ton, under the command of Colonel William Thompson 
of Carlisle, and Lieutenant Colonel Edward Hand of 
Lancaster. In one short month, the first company, 
Nagel's Berks County "Dutchmen," was at Cambridge, 
and in less than 60 days, nine companies of back- woods- 
men from Pennsylvania, two from Maryland and two from 
Virginia — 1,430 all told — were at Boston. When they 
made a charge or awaited one, the command — "Wait till 
you see the whites of their eyes" — was not necessary. 
For unlike the muskets and shot-guns of the New Hng- 
landers, the rifle could be relied upon to hit a man at a 
much greater distance. At a review, a company of these 
riflemen, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into 
objects of seven-inch diameter at a distance of 250 yards. 
Their shots frequently proved fatal to British ofiicers and 
soldiers.^ So frequent became the returns of British offi- 
cers, pickets and artillerymen shot at long range, that 
Edmund Burke exclaimed in Parliament, "Your officers 
are swept off" by the rifles if they show their noses." 

These men were the flower of the frontier, "remarka- 
bly stout and hardy, many of them exceeding six feet in 
height." They were the first troops levied on this conti- 
nent by authority of a central representative government. 
They were the nucleus of the American army, absolutely 

1 Thatcher's Military Journal, August 17th, 1775. 



74 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

loyal to the American cause, and knowing no fatherland 
but the wilderness. Kven their garb, patterned after that 
of the Indians, was distinctively American. And when 
Congress drew its first levies from the frontiers, it stirred 
into the American army the leaven that leavened the 
whole. But what was the gain of the Continental army 
was the loss of the frontier. And when England, in 1777, 
began to attack the rear-guard all along the line, the ab- 
sence of so many of the best men belonging to it was a 
serious matter. It is therefore clear why Edward Hand, 
who had already become a brigadier general of the Rifle- 
men, was selected to assume command at Fort Pitt. 
General Hand served his country to the end of the Revo- 
lution, and then resumed the practice of medicine at 
Lancaster. He also held a number of important civil 
trusts, one of which was to act as an elector for choosing 
the first President and Vice-President of the United States; 
and another to help frame the State Constitution of 1790. 
He died at his farm at Rockford, Lancaster county, 1802. ^ 
The expedition planned by Hand could not be made. 
He made a call for 2,000 militia, but they were not in a 
humor to turn out, "for this, that and a thousand 
reasons, which probably could not be obviated without 
violating the militia law and discarding many officers, the 
General perhaps not excepted." ^ There was a lack of 
unity between the Virginians and the Pennsylvanians, 
and the danger in withdrawing so many of the militia also 
had much to do with the failure.^ The most, therefore, 
that Hand could do was to protect the settlements through 
defensive measures. " If I can assist the inhabitants to 
stand their ground," he wrote, " I shall deem myself do- 



1 Pennsylvania Historical Mag-azine, vol. 7, p. 98. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 18. 

3 Ibid, p. 68. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 75 

ing a great deal."^ The defensive measures, aside from 
calling out the militia and directing their movements, 
consisted in the erection of forts, stockades and block- 
houses. The Western frontier line needing protection on 
the north reached from the Allegheny Mountains to Kit- 
tanning, thence dov^^n the Allegheny river for forty-five 
miles to Pittsburg, and along the Ohio as far as the Great 
Kanawha. 

The building of frontier forts in the Revolution was 
one of the valuable lessons learned in the French war. 
There were erected during the campaigns of 1755-58, and 
that of 1763, no less than 207 forts, large and small. ^ 
The chain formed two distinct barriers on the west. The 
outer one guarded what was the frontier against the 
French, along the east bank of the Ohio (Allegheny) river, 
from Kittanning to the southwestern corner of the Prov- 
ince. The inner line extending along the Blue Moun- 
tains, from the Delaware river to the Maryland line, 
guarded against Indian raids. Between these two chains 
were isolated forts atLewistown, Shirley, Fort Littleton, 
Bedford, Loudon and other points. In addition to these 
forts, it became necessary at various points, where depre- 
dations were most frequent, to erect stockades around 
strongly-built farm houses and mills, or to build block- 
houses specially as places of safety and defense. Most of 
this work was done by the Province ; but some of it, 
principally the erection of stockades and block-houses, 
was the result of local effort.^ 

At the outbreak of the Revolution, but a few of the 
forts erected in the French war were in a state of defense. 
They were Fort Pitt, Fort Ligonier, Fort Augusta, and 

1 History of AHegheny County, p. 82. 

2 Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, /aj«»?. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 2, p. 552 ; also, Frontier Forts, vol. 1. pp. 
250, 258, 265. 



76 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

others possibly that were not needed then, as the frontier 
had moved considerably northward and westward since 
1763. The first forts of the Revolutionary period in 
Western Pennsylvania were erected during the time of 
Dunmore's war, to put a stop to the unreasonable panic 
that had seized the inhabitants.^ Then there was no fur- 
ther occasion for such defenses, until General Hand's plan 
of carrying the war into the Indian country failed, and he 
had to be content with protective measures. Including 
the rehabilitation of a number of old forts — notably Fort 
lyigonier and Hannastown — he succeeded in putting up a 
large number of new forts, stockades and block-houses. 
Colonel Lochry, who kept a diligent watch over affairs, 
reported in November that the whole population north of 
the old Forbes Road, from the Allegheny mountains to 
the river, were kept close in forts and could get no sub- 
sistence from their plantations. 

It was frequently the case that the settlers had to live 
in the forts for weeks at a time, taking their scanty house- 
hold goods, farm implements and live-stock with them 
into the enclosure. When there was no immediate danger 
outside, the men, leaving the women and children inside, 
went to their fields in the day and returned at night, but 
never without their rifles close at hand. Sentinels were 
placed at proper places, and on the least alarm the whole 
company of workers repaired to their arms. The fort con- 
sisted of cabins, stockades and block-houses. A range of 
cabins formed at least one side of the fort, with log parti- 
tions between them. The walls on the outside were ten 
to twelve feet high, the slope of the roof being turned in- 
ward. The block -houses were built at the angles of the fort, 
and projected about two feet beyond the outer walls of the 



1 PeutisylTaiiia Archives, vol. 4, p. 519. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 77 

cabins and stockades. Their upper story was larger each 
way than the under one, leaving an opening at the com- 
mencement of the second story to prevent the enemy from 
making a lodgment under the walls. Bastions instead of 
block-houses sometimes rose at the corners. A large 
folding gate, made of thick slabs, opened out towards the 
nearest spring. The stockades, bastions, cabins and 
block-houses were all furnished with portholes, while the 
whole of the outside was made completely bullet-proof.^ 
Attacks on one of these forts seldom succeeded, unless its 
male occupants were cut off from it or its supplies gave 
out. Whenever the enemy came in sight, everybody in 
the enclosure assisted in the defense. There was more 
than one ''MoUie Pitcher" engaged in the border warfare ; 
for it was common for the women in the frontier forts to 
run bullets for their husbands or brothers, and assist 
otherwise in the defense of life and property. 

There were about one hundred of these forts and block- 
houses put up in the Revolutionary period west of the 
mountains ; and about a dozen in each of the valleys of 
the Juniata, the North Branch and the West Branch. ^ 
One, Fort Penn, was erected by Northampton county on 
the present site of Stroudsburg. 

The Indians, in 1777, extended their raids from the 
West even across the mountains.^ A day hardly passed 
in the region of what is now Bedford, Blair and Hunting- 
don counties, without hearing of some new murder. One- 
half of the people fled, and the others were busy removing 
their effects to places of safety and ranging the country 
by turns. In their appeal for help, the inhabitants of 
Bedford said that Cumberland county would soon be a 



1 Frontier Forts, vol. 2, p. 401. 

2 Frontier Forts, passim. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 39. 



78 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

frontier. These people were especially in need of guns, 
"for when the men were raised for the army," they said, 
"you know we procured every gun that we could for their 
use . . . The safety of our country then loudly called 
on us to send all the arms to the Camp that could be pro- 
cured, and it now as loudly calls on us to entreat that we 
may be allowed some as soon as possible." The condi- 
tion of the Western frontier in December is well summed 
up in a letter by Lieutenant Archy to President Warton,^ 
"If there Is Not Stors Laid in this Winter, in Spring 
they Must leave the Countery ; they Have no Salt to Lay 
Up Meat, their Grain is all Burned & Destroyed on the 
North of the Cunnemach ; if there is No Store of Provi- 
sion for Next Summer and People Hindered from Spring 
Crops, the Cuntery is undoubtedly Broke up." 

The Susquehanna Valleys, in 1777, were thrown into 
fear and consternation quite early in the year by news 
that there were 15,000 Ministerial troops at Niagara, 
which were to move in three divisions : 4,000 of them 
were to come down the North Branch, 4,000 down the 
West Branch, and 7,000 down the Mohawk, and that a 
number of Indians were to be along with them.^ The 
Committee of Northumberland after confirming the rumor, 
wrote to the Executive Council, in April, that the county 
was not able to make a defense on account of the want of 
arms and ammunition, the men who had joined Wash- 
ington's army having taken the greater part of the arms 
fit for service. But the year 1777 was a trying time for 
Philadelphia. Assistance from the Council or Congress 
could not be expected when the city was taken by Howe, 
and the State and United States Governments were on 
wheels to Lancaster and York Town. Northumberland, 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 68. 

2 Pennsylvania Associators, vol. 2, p. 366. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 79 

like Westmoreland, had to defend itself unaided. Stock- 
ade forts were constructed hastily, and the settlers aban- 
doned their cabins and their fields of grain, to seek refuge 
within these enclosures. Those who refused or neglected 
to avail themselves of the forts generally paid dearly for 
their folly. 

On a Sunday morning in June, the Indians killed two 
men who had gone out from Ante's fort to milk the cows. 
The Indians had lured them into the bushes by seizing 
the bell-cow and holding her. This was the beginning of 
a series of murders that were committed incessantly to the 
end of the year. After the battle of Brandy wine, Captain 
John Brady , ^ and a number of other officers from the West 
Branch, were ordered home by Washington to assist the 
inhabitants in the defense of their homes and families. 
It was one thing for a man in the older communities to 
become a soldier of the Revolution ; but quite another for 
the frontiersman . The latter never knew when he enlisted 
what evil might befall his wife and children during 
his absence. So it must have been a welcome order for 
the men from Northumberland to return and defend their 
homes. Colonel John Kelly, who had been ordered home 
before, had command on the frontier. Colonel Kelly was 
born in Lancaster county. In 1768, he settled in Buffalo 
Valley, then a part of Berks county. He was young, of 
great physical vigor, and bold as a lion. In 1776, he 
marched to the Jerseys, and won imperishable glory by 
cutting the girders of a bridge on Stony Creek in sight of 
the advancing British. After the war, he was for many 
years a magistrate in Union county. He died in 1832, 
and a monument stands on his grave in Lewisburg. 
Major Moses Van Campen, another frontiersman, re- 



1 See Supra, p. 65. 



80 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

nowned for his daring, served a three months' tour with 
Kelly in the summer of 1777. Van Campen was of Dutch 
and French extract, born in New Jersey, and after living 
for awhile with his parents at the Delaware Water Gap, 
in Northampton county, came with them to the Fishing 
Creek, in what is now Columbia county. Getting some 
taste of military life in the Pennamite war of 1775, he was 
prepared for service in the Revolution, and marched to 
Boston with a regiment from Northumberland to join the 
Continental army. In 1778, he was taken captive, but 
freed himself by killing five Indians. He accompanied 
Sullivan's expedition the next year, and performed valiant 
deeds on the frontier till 1782, when he was again cap- 
tured and carried to Niagara. There he was given the 
option between torture and death at the hands of the In- 
dians (for he was recognized as the man who had killed 
so many Indians), or allegiance to the British cause. 
*' No, sir, no — my life belongs to my country ; give me 
the stake, the tomahawk or the scalping-knife before I 
will dishonor the character of an American officer. ' ' His 
loyalty saved him, and he became a prisoner of war. He 
was exchanged, and after the war removed to New York, 
where he died in 1849, at the age of 92.^ 

Towards the close of the year, Northumberland was 
in dire straits. The first and second classes of the militia 
were on the frontier under Kelley ; the Indian atrocities 
did not abate till after the snow had fallen ; ^ the people 
could with difficulty be persuaded to return to their 
homes ; they had no crops ; they had no salt to cure their 
winter meats ; and added to all this, the third and fourth 
classes of the militia were ordered to join General Wash- 



1 McGinness' History of the West Branch VaUey, p. 642-656. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 175. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 81 

ington at Valley Forge, but had neither arms nor 
blankets. 1 

The first measure of defense taken by Wyoming in 
1777, was to send scouts up the river to watch the Indian 
paths and bring intelligence. They learned that certain 
Tories were busy communicating with the Indians at 
Tioga and the British at Niagara. A party of nine men 
was then sent out to arrest the Tories, which they did ; 
but Lieutenant John Jenkins and three others were cap- 
tured by a band of Tories and Indians. He and two of 
his men were carried to Canada. There it was decided 
to exchange him for an Indian chief, who was a prisoner 
at Albany. When Jenkins came there under an Indian 
escort, the chief had died. The Indians would have 
tomahawked Jenkins if they could ; but they had to re- 
lease him and return without their prisoner. These were 
the first prisoners taken from Wyoming. But fortunately 
there were no murders or outrages committed on the 
North Branch that year. The Indians of the Six Nations 
may have awaited the doubtful issue of Burgoyne's cam- 
paign, or they may have tried to lull the valley into se- 
curity and "reserve it as a cherished victim for another 
campaign."^ Had they been more aggressive, the two 
companies in the Continental army might have been re- 
called, and the tale of 1778 been less horrifying. The 
people, however, were not idle ; for they built forts upon 
an enlarged scale and with greater strength. They 
worked at them by turns ; even the boys and the old men 
were not exempted from duty. 

On the Northampton frontier, there was no border 
warfare in 1777. Fort Penn may have been erected then, 
but there is no positive evidence to that effect.^ 

1 History of Juniata and Susquehanna VaUeys, vol. 1, p. 106. 

2 Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 200. 

3 Frontier Forts, rol. 1, p. 328. 



82 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

Of all the dark, impenetrable clouds that passed over 
the American army, none so completely veiled the 
issues of the Revolution as the one that rested over Valley 
Forge in the winter of 1777-78. And it was then that 
the darkest, most horrible plots against the frontier were 
formed at Niagara and Detroit by the British and their 
Indian allies.^ It was assumed, and rightly so, by Gov- 
ernor Hamilton that "the Rebels" would not give much 
attention to the frontiers since the taking of Philadelphia 
had called for all their available forces, "and they would 
scarcely send from that quarter a good officer, staunch 
men, or serviceable artillery." The Indians had lost 
enough men in 1777 "to sharpen their resentment." 
They brought 73 prisoners alive to Governor Hamilton 
and 129 scalps. He had no reason "to doubt the readi- 
ness of the chiefs for going to war in the spring, either in 
small parties or ^;z ^r^5j. " The savages met in council 
at Detroit, June 14th, to receive their orders. ^ Every 
tribe north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi seems 
to have been represented. Governor Hamilton thanked 
them for attending his call and assured them that he re- 
membered the good will with which they took up their 
father's axe (King George's) striking as one man his 
enemies and theirs, forcing "them from the frontiers to 
the Coast, where they have fallen into the hands of the 
King's troops." He then told them that the British had 
"taken New York, Boston and Philadelphia, and driven 
the Rebels back wherever they dared show their faces, 
both by land and sea." To mix resentment with the 
feeling of joy which these victories would inspire in the 
savage breast, he told them that the King, always atten- 
tive to his dutiful children, ordered the axe to be put into 

1 Haldimand MSS., Book 122, p. 26. 

2 Ibid, pp. 54 and 75. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 83 

their hands "in order to drive the Rebels from their land, 
while his ships of war and his armies drove them from 
the sea." The Indian nations accepted the axe with 
great cheerfulness and unanimity; but the Delawares were 
not altogether to be depended on, since the chiefs present 
at the council could speak for only sixty of them. 

Hamilton's intrigues at Detroit had become known to 
Congress before 1778. On November 20th, of the pre- 
vious year,^ that body, having in its possession some of 
his proclamations lost by the Indians where they com- 
mitted their murders, concluded that he was responsible 
for the "barbarous and murderous warfare." They also 
traced the disaffection, so prevalent then in and around 
Fort Pitt, to his agents and emissaries. A commission 
was therefore appointed to repair to Fort Pitt without 
delay to investigate and suppress the disaffection in that 
quarter, and to concert with General Hand a plan to 
capture Detroit. This commission repotted to Congress, 
April 27th, 2 and confirmed all the reports and suspicions 
that led to its appointment. Defensive warfare was ac- 
knowledged to be inadequate and an expedition to reduce 
Detroit was ordered on the nth of June, and the Indians 
along the route were to be compelled to sue for peace. 
To facilitate the success of the expedition, and the sooner 
to compel the hostile tribes to cease their war on the 
frontier, another expedition was to be organized at Albany 
to chastise "that insolent and revengeful nation," the 
Senecas. About the same time, General Hand, to undo 
the mischief done by McKee, Elliott and Girty among the 
Delawares and Shawanese around Fort Pitt, held a con- 
ference with these nations. That he was partially suc- 
cessful was proven by the fact that so few Delawares had 



1 Journals of Congress, vol. 3, p. 409. 

2 Joornals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 244. 



84 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

come to Hamilton's council at Detroit. With the Sha- 
wanese, he could do but little. The three renegades, "of 
that horrid brood called refugees, whom the devil has 
long since marked as his own , " ^ had been quite success- 
ful with these, as they had serious grievances. ^ 

It was well that Congress made this change of policy, 
from defensive to offensive warfare, for the Indians had 
come into Westmoreland county as early as April, ^ at- 
tacked a company of rangers, killed nine of them, wounded 
the captain and took nine guns. It was a larger body of 
Indians than had ever before appeared at once and their 
attack was much more vigorous. Lieutenant Lochry pre- 
dicted a general evacuation of all the posts except Fort 
Pitt, with the next appearance of such a body of the 
enemy. General Hand, having been recalled by his own 
request, was succeeded, at the suggestion of General 
Washington , by General Lochlin Mcintosh, of the Georgia 
lyine,* a soldier with whom Washington parted at Valley 
Forge with much reluctance, as his services were sorely 
needed there. Mcintosh did not arrive at Fort Pitt until 
early in August ; so Congress resolved that the expedition 
to Detroit should be deferred for the present, but that he 
should proceed to destroy some of the Indian towns west 
of the Ohio. But this order did not change his purpose. ^ 
It seems that Congress did not consider the army he could 
raise strong enough to undertake the reduction of Detroit. 
Before the expedition was planned, Washington had 
ordered the Eighth Pennsylvania to the assistance of 
General Hand. This regiment consisted of seven com- 
panies from Westmoreland and one from Bedford, and 



1 History of Alleg-heny county, p. 84. 

2 Washing'ton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 14. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 495. 

4 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 20. 

5 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 12, p. 118. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 85 

numbered in 1778 about 340 men.^ It was raised for the 
defense of the Western frontier by a resolution of Con- 
gress, passed July 15th, 1776.2 But it was needed "be- 
low" soon afterwards, and in November, received orders 
to join Washington in New Jersey, or wherever he might 
be.* One of the men wrote at the time : 

'*Iyast Evening-, We Received Marching: orders, Which I 
must say is not disagreeable to me under ye Sircumstances of 
ye times, for when I entered into ye Service I judged that if a 
necessity appeared to call us Below, it would be Don, therefore 
it Dont come on me By Surprise ; But as Both ye officers and 
Men understood they Ware Raised for ye Defence of ye West- 
ern Frontiers, and their f amelys and substance to be I^ef t in 
so Defenceless a situation in their abstence, seems to give Sen- 
sable trouble, altho I Hope We Will Get over it. . . . We are 
ill Provided for a March at this season, But there is nothing 
Hard under some Sircumstance. We Hope Provisions will be 
made for us Below. Blankets, Campe Kittles, tents, arms, 
Regementals, etc., that we may not Cut a Dispisable Figure, 
But may be Enabled to answer ye expectation of ower Coun- 
tre," 

The commander of the regiment at the time of its re- 
turn to the Irontier was Colonel David Brodhead. He 
was a native of New York, but his father removed to a 
place in Northampton county, now East Stroudsburg, 
Monroe county. David was twenty when the French 
war commenced, and probably received his first lesson in 
border warfare when the Indians attacked his house, in 
1755. In 1 77 1, he removed to Reading, and became a 
surveyor. His first duty performed in the Revolution 
was that of delegate to the Provincial Convention, in 
1775. The next year he joined the Continental army as 
lieutenant colonel. After the war he held the office of 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 635. 

2 Journals of Congress, vol. 1, pp. 411-419. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, vol. 10, p. 641. 



86 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

Surveyor General of the State for eleven years, and died 
at Milford, Pike county, 1809.^ 

The advance of Colonel Brodhead's regiment towards 
Pittsburg began in June, but the march was interrupted 
by a detour up the Susquehanna to check the savages who 
were ravaging the West Branch and the Wyoming Val- 
ley. The command did not arrive at Fort Pitt before 
September. Previously to Brodhead's "late arrival," 
General Mcintosh had been reinforced by the 13th Vir- 
ginia, likewise recruited on the frontier and sent back 
from Valley Forge. But his entire force available for the 
expedition, including the militia, was only about 1,300 
men. He had tried hard to have more. He resolved to 
break up the numerous small forts, which General Hand 
had been obliged to garrison, because his chief depend- 
ence was on the militia. These forts " were frequently 
altered, kept or evacuated, according to the humors, fears 
or interests of the people of most influence," ^ and re- 
quired a large body of militia to defend them. Mcintosh 
also abandoned the numerous store-houses throughout 
the border counties, and built one general store-house in 
the fork of the Monongahela river, where all loads from 
across the mountains could be discharged without cross- 
ing any large streams. By this measure, the men that had 
guarded the stores became available for active duty. To 
guard the frontiers in his absence, he authorized the Lieu- 
tenants of Westmoreland and of several counties of Vir- 
ginia, to organize a few companies of rangers ; and to 
garrison the few remaining forts — Pitt, Hand and Ran- 
dolph — he raised independent companies. Through the 
efforts, also, of a Congressional commission, consisting of 
two gentlemen from Virginia and one from Pennsylva- 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, vol.10, p. 645. 

2 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 24. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 87 

nia/ the greater part of the Delaware nation was made a 
close ally of the United States, and " the hatchet placed 
into their hands." They promised to furnish their best 
and most expert warriors, and a levy for two captains and 
sixty braves was afterwards made upon the nation. 
Probably the most important concession from them was 
the consent to march an array across their territory.^ 

All these preparations being made, General Mcintosh 
opened a road to the Beaver, and erected a post with bar- 
racks and stores, upon the present site of Beaver. It was 
called Fort Mcintosh, and was built of strong stockades, 
furnished with bastions, mounting one six-pounder each, 
and large enough for a whole regiment.^ Early in Octo- 
ber, the headquarters of the army were removed from Fort 
Pitt to the new fort ; but a forward movement into the 
Indian country was retarded by a want of supplies. A 
month later, cattle from over the mountains arrived, but 
they were poor and could not be killed for want of salt, 
which then cost $20 a bushel at Fort Pitt.* Being now 
reproached by the Delawares for his tardiness, Mcintosh 
ordered i ,200 men to get ready to march ; and on the i6th 
of November the movement westward began . It required 
the rest of the month to reach the Tuscarawas — seventy 
miles distant from Fort Mcintosh — the * * horses and cat- 
tle tiring every four or five miles." Not meeting the 
enemy here as he had expected, and the supplies for the 
winter not having reached Fort Mcintosh, the General's 
expedition against Detroit had to be abandoned for the 
year 1778. He erected Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas, 
and garrisoned it with 150 men, under command of Colo- 



1 Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 235. 

2 Washingrton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 25. 

3 Frontier Forts, vol. 2, p. 488. 
4Washington-Irviue Correspondence, p. 27. 



88 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

nel John Gibson, the same whom Doctor Connelly sought 
to corrupt in 1 775 . He was a native of Lancaster county. 
At the age of eighteen he accompanied Forbes' expedi- 
tion, and then settled at Fort Pitt as an Indian trader. 
He was captured by the Indians, and saved from burning 
at the stake by an aged squaw. After remaining with 
the Indians for a number of years, he returned to Fort 
Pitt. He was active in securing peace with the Indians 
in 1774, and soon after was appointed colonel in a 
Continental regiment. He served with the army in New 
York, and in its retreat across the Jerseys. After the 
war he was prominent in civil life as a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1790, and judge of Alle- 
gheny county. He commanded a regiment in St. Clair's 
expedition, and was major general of the militia during 
the Whiskey Insurrection. In 1800, Jefferson appointed 
him Secretary of Indiana Territory, and later became its 
acting Governor. ^ 

With the remainder of his army, General Mcintosh 
returned to Fort Mcintosh, where he disbanded the militia 
"precipitately," for they had shown signs of mutiny. 
And no wonder, for, on the return, the troops had to eat 
roasted beef-hides that had been left to dry, so scarce were 
the provisions. Thirty-six hides were cut up and roasted 
in one night. ^ The Eighth Pennsylvania was assigned to 
Fort Pitt. The residue were divided among the principal 
forts, including Fort Mcintosh. 

An expedition of more consequence, both immediate 
and future, was that of George Rogers Clark. He arrived 
at Fort Pitt from Virginia early in 1778, authorized by 
Governor Patrick Henry to enlist men for a secret expe- 
dition against the Illinois country. He had sent spies 



1 History of, Westmoreland Connty, p. 96. 
7, Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 28. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 89 

thither, and learned that a number of the British posts 
were weakly garrisoned, the troops having been with- 
drawn to defend Detroit and Niagara against the expedi- 
tions planned at Fort Pitt and Albany in 1777. Clark 
had a hard winter's work in enlisting troops for his he- 
roic undertaking, because the backwoodsmen, ignorant 
of his true design, were opposed to it. So when, on May 
12th, he " set sail for the falls " of the Ohio, on boats 
built at Fort Redstone, now Brownsville, Fayette county, 
he had only 180 men, but they were picked riflemen. 
Though Clark and all his men were in the Virginia ser- 
vice, some of them were Pennsylvanians at the time, and 
many others became such after the settlement of the 
boundary. General Hand furnished Clark with every 
necessity he wanted.^ The result of the campaign was 
the reduction of the British posts between the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers — Kaskaskia, St. Phillips, Vincennes 
and others. When the treaty of peace was made, in 1783, 
these posts were held by American garrisons, and the con- 
quest of Clark helped to make the Mississippi river the 
western boundary of the United States. The expedition 
also had a salutary effect on Indian depredations, as it re- 
sulted in the capture of Hamilton the following year. 

On the Northumberland frontier there was scarcely 
any lull in Indian ravages in the winter of 1777- 1778. 
On the first day of the year, one of the settlers was killed 
and scalped two miles above Great Island, and eleven In- 
dians were easily tracked in the snow and two of them 
killed. 2 Colonel Antes, who had built Fort Antes at the 
mouth of Nippenose Creek, and owned a grist mill there 
of great value to the people, was in command in that sec- 
tion. He came down to consult Colonel Hunter at Fort 



1 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. IS. 

2 Pennsjlvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 176. 



90 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

Augusta, and in consequence of the fright, the fifth class 
of militia, which was to join the army at Valley Forge, 
was ordered to remain at home. These and other availa- 
ble forces were held in readiness for a call to arms. After 
the snow had disappeared in March, great uneasiness 
seized Northumberland. There were only two rifles and 
sixty muskets in the public stores of the county ; and if 
the sixth and seventh classes of militia would have been 
called out then, they could not have been armed. ^ For- 
tunately, there was no necessity for additional troops. 
When, about the first of May, the fifth class had served 
their two months, the sixth simply exchanged places. 
But now there was a scarcity of meat and flour, and pro- 
visions had to be forwarded from I^ancaster and Cumber- 
land counties. ^ To provide for this want in some measure, 
the people were asked to preserve shad and barrel them 
up for the use of the militia. 

News was now received from Bedford and Westmore- 
land that the Indians had been seen there. It needed no 
confirmation ; for scarcely had a week passed when they 
commenced to kill, scalp and carry off captives on the 
West Branch, and classes of militia from all the battalions 
had to be ordered out on their respective tour of duty. 
The Council, still in session at Lancaster, now acted with 
energy and promptness. Rifles, muskets, powder, lead, 
flints and provisions were ordered for Northumberland 
from Northampton Town (Allentown), York Town, Car- 
lisle and Lebanon ; and an appeal for help was made to 
Congress. ^ This body had frequently drawn on the State's 
supplies, and it was therefore right " to depend on their 
issues at this time." The Council now felt certain that 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 392. 

2 Ibid, p. 478. 

3 Ibid, p. 536. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 91 

the attack of the savages was concerted by the British, 
for the employment of such horrid allies was avowed in 
the face of the world. The Council, knowing that the 
border warfare was made in concert with the invaders of 
the eastern side of the State, felt that Pennsylvania had a 
claim to be supported by the force and money of the United 
States, as had been done lately for the Southern States. 

By the close of May,^ Colonel Hunter wrote to John 
Hambright, a leading citizen of Northumberland, then a 
member of the Executive Council at Lancaster : 

" We are really in a Melancholy situation in this county, 
the back inhabitants have all Evacuated their habitations and 
Assembled in different places It is really Distress- 
ing- to see the inhabitants flying- a-way and leaving- their all. 
Especially the Jersey people, that came up here this last Win- 
ter and Spring, not one stays, but sets off to the Jerseys again. ' ' 

On the second of June, ^ he wrote to Vice-President Bryan 
that the people had drawn up a petition to Congress for 
relief, and would lay it before the Council before present- 
ing it, for approval. The next day ^ John Harris, the 
founder of Harrisburg, wrote to the Vice-President, from 
Paxton, ** I pity my bleeding Country, and am willing to 
assist the county of Northumberland by any means in my 
power." He feared that unless something were done 
quickly, the people would all move off and the crops would 
be lost. In a short time afterwards communication be- 
tween Antes' Mill and Big Island was cut off, and a bloody 
slaughter occurred at the present site of Williamsport,* 
in which four men , two women , one boy and one girl were 
killed and scalped, and five others taken captive. All 
these events were but forerunners of a disaster greater 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 570. 

2 Ibid, p. 573. 
5 Ibid, p. 574. 
4 Ibid, p. 599. 



92 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

than any of them. It would seem that Colonel Hunter 
had a presentiment of what was soon to happen at Wyom- 
ing ; for, on the 4th of July, the day after the massacre, 
and before he knew of it, he wrote to Vice-President 
Bryan, of the Council, now again in Philadelphia : ^ 
' * Wyoming will not long be able to oppose the rapid pro- 
gress of the enemy ; in that case we cannot say where they 
will stop, and Lancaster county must soon feel their rav- 
ages." 

The massacre of Wyoming was not without its pre- 
monitory signals. The wave of joy which swept over the 
country after Burgoyne's surrender, and lifted it out of 
the despair of Brandy wine and Germantown, struck this 
beautiful valley in Pennsylvania with the sound of a roar- 
ing breaker. It was feared that the Indians released from 
British service in northern New York, and now under no 
restraint whatever, would turn their dreaded arms upon 
the frontiers. And where was there another settlement 
so exposed to, and so much hated by, the savages as 
Wyoming? Early in the spring of 1778, Congress was 
asked by the settlers for troops to defend them against the 
expedition that was reported to be organized against them 
at Niagara. 2 General Schuyler wrote to the Board of 
War on the condition of Wyoming. Ransom's and Dur- 
kee's independent companies in the Continental army 
plead and remonstrated that their families, left defense- 
less, were menaced with invasion, and that they should 
be returned according to the conditions of their enlist- 
ment. But all that Congress did, though it had informa- 
tion of its own to confirm these fears, ^ was to order a 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 624. 

2 Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 113; Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 
371; Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 1, p. 304. 

3 Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 63. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 93 

company to be enlisted from among the inhabitants, the 
men to find ** their own arms, accoutrements and blan- 
kets." As in all other sections of the frontier, men and 
arms were exceedingly scarce, for the best of both had 
been drawn into the Continental service. 

Unlike their behavior on the West Branch, the Indians 
committed no open acts of hostility on the North Branch 
until a few days before the massacre. In the month of 
May, scouting parties were discovered some twenty miles 
up the river, but they were after information rather than 
scalps. Soon after two Indians, once residents of Wyom- 
ing, came down with their squaws, pretending to be on a 
friendly visit. By freely administering rum to the vis- 
itors, it was learned that the settlement was to be cut off 
at an early day. This was the signal for defense. Steps 
were taken to form the company authorized by Congress ; 
the people in the outer settlements fled to the forts, and 
letters were dispatched in great haste to the men in the 
Continental army, calling upon them to come home. On 
hearing this news, every commissioned officer, but two, 
resigned, and more than twenty-five men, with or without 
leave, left the ranks and hastened to the Valley.^ Con- 
gress was now obliged to act. On the 23rd of June — 
only one week before the arrival of the Indians ^ — the 
Westmoreland companies, numbering then only 86 men, 
were ' ' detached from the main army for the defense of the 
frontiers." 

The enemy's preparation at Tioga Point to descend 
the river at the time of the " June fresh," was now well 
known. The Indians were no longer anxious to conceal 
their plot from the people of Wyoming ; for they felt sure 
of their victims. The wise men of Congress had been 



1 Miner's History of Wyoming", p. 215. 

2 Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 263. 



94 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

outwitted by the simple savage of the forest. While the 
Wyoming massacre was planning at Tioga Point, Seneca 
chiefs were in Philadelphia, ostensibly to negotiate a 
treaty, but in reality to deceive and prevent aid to Wyom- 
ing. Nor did they leave until the fatal blow had been 
struck . ^ On the evening of the 29th of June , or the morn- 
ing of the 30th, 2 the enemy, consisting of 400 British pro- 
vincials, including many Tories from Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey and New York, and 600 or 700 Indians, some of 
whom had come from Detroit, entered the Valley of 
Wyoming, near its northern extremity, through a gap of 
the mountain. They were under the command of Colonel 
John Butler, of Niagara.^ Whether Brandt commanded 
the Indians is a disputed question.^ The invaders took 
two small forts without opposition. In this they were 
aided by Tories residing in that neighborhood. One of 
the forts was burned, and several people were killed and 
taken captive. 

When the inhabitants below learned of the approach 
of the British and Indians, they assembled in Forty Fort, 
so called from the circumstance that, at one time in the 
previous troubles of the settlement, it was occupied by 
forty men. Colonel Zebulon Butler, then at home from 
the army, assumed command. The women and children 
were ordered into the various forts of the Valley. The 
militia — some three hundred — were hastily mobilized, 
and with these Colonel Butler marched up the Valley to 
meet the enemy, and soon met a party of Indian scouts, 
who had just murdered some settlers engaged at work in 
a field. After killing two of these advanced guards, his 



1 Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 285. 

2 Miner's History of Wyoming-, p. 217. 

3 Stone's I/ife of Brandt, vol. 1, p. 339. 

4 Winsor's Hand-Book of the American Revolution, p. 192. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 95 

command had to fall back on Forty Fort for want of sup- 
plies. 

On the 3rd of July, a council of war was convened at 
Forty Fort, for a request to surrender had been made 
twice already by the British commander. There was 
some hesitancy about taking the oifensive just then, as 
reinforcements were expected. But as there was so little 
hope of succor now, the column of about three hundred 
men, old men and boys, marched from the fort. They 
had gone but a short distance when the three officers who 
had resigned from the regular army rode breathless and 
exhausted into Forty Fort. The privates who had started 
with them were still about forty miles off. Having 
snatched a morsel of food, they followed their gallant com- 
mander.^ It was evident now that he had to depend on 
his militia alone. When he met the enemy, their line 
was formed " a small distance in from their camp, on a 
plain thinly covered with pine, shrub-oaks and under- 
growth, and extending from the river to a marsh at the 
foot of the mountains. " He formed a line of equal length, 
and the battle commenced. The militia bore up well at 
first ; but, unfortunately, the Indian commander — Brandt 
possibly — marching through the marsh, turned their left 
flank, commanded by Colonel Dennison. The latter or- 
dered his men to ' ' fall back ' ' to avoid capture and to re- 
form. They mistook his order for a " retreat," and the 
whole line took flight. Colonel Butler rode up and down 
the line, calling to the boys not to leave him. But it was 
too late. 

The battle being ended, the massacre began. The 
Indians threw away their rifles, rushed forward with their 
tomahawks, making dreadful havoc, answering cries for 



1 Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 221. 



96 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

mercy with the hatchet. Less than sixty of the Spartan 
band escaped either the rifle or the tomahawk. Twenty- 
three officers fell, most of whom while trying to rally the 
men when the retreat began. Durkee and Ransom, the 
veteran captains of the Line , were among the dead . Some 
of the fugitives escaped by swimming the river and flee- 
ing to the mountains ; and when the news reached the 
lower part of the Valley, most of the women and children 
likewise fled to the mountains. Those who could not 
make their escape, sought refuge in Fort Wyoming. The 
Indians, whose desire for blood had been satiated, pro- 
ceeded after the battle to satisfy the cravings of hunger 
by plundering kitchens and pantries. On the morning of 
the 4th, Colonel John Butler demanded the surrender of 
Fort Wyoming. There was not much disposition to re- 
fuse the demand, for everybody in the Valley that could 
get away was on the flight to the Wind Gap and Strouds- 
burg, some of them making their way to old Connecticut. 
The fugitives endured untold hardships, especially those 
who passed through the " Dismal Swamp," which from 
that time on has been known as the " Shades of Death." 
Some died of wounds ; others perished from hunger ; sev- 
eral children were born in the wilderness ; families were 
broken up, and in some cases they never saw one another 
again. But it does not appear that anything like a massa- 
cre followed the capitulation. 

This step was now promptly taken. But as Colonel 
John Butler insisted on an unconditional surrender of 
Colonel Zebulon Butler, with the fourteen Continental 
soldiers remaining, the heroic leader of the men of Wy- 
oming escaped in the night and left Colonel Dennison of 
the militia to make terms. These stipulated that the set- 
tlers should be disarmed, their garrison demolished, but 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 97 

their lives and property preserved. The losses of the 
Tories were to be made good. To prevent further atro- 
cities by the Indians, all the whiskey near Forty Fort was 
emptied into the river. But they were so jubilant after 
the Yankees had marched out of the fort that they began 
to plunder the settlers' homes far and wide. Colonel 
Butler confessed that he could do nothing with the sav- 
ages after such a victory. The only remedy he had was 
to withdraw from the valley, which he did on the 8th of 
July.^ His part in this horrible affair was far less open 
to reproach than that of the Government of Great Britain, 
which employed the demons under his command. Even 
the Tories of Wyoming were more reprehensible than he. 
Such was Colonel Hunter's presentiment, if presenti- 
ment it was. As the report of the massacre passed down 
the North Branch and spread up the valley of the West 
Branch, it caused a wild, precipitate flight, known as the 
"Great Runaway." On the 9th of July, ^ Colonel Hunt- 
er's pen was not equal to describe the situation in North- 
umberland. From all appearances, he felt sure that the 
towns of Northumberland and Sunbury would be the 
frontier in less than a day. That their inhabitants would 
make a stand, he felt sure, but how long they could hold 
out, was a question. Should they fail for want of assist- 
ance, the neighboring counties could find no excuse for 
their "breach of brotherly love, charity, and every virtue 
which adorns and advances the human species above the 
brute creation." This stirring appeal he made to the 
militia of Berks county. Soon other letters were written 
— from Paxtang, Hummelstown, Carlisle and Lancaster — 
all reporting the calamities of the twin branches of the 
Susquehanna. Wm. McClay, afterwards one of the first 

1 Miner's History of Wyominjr, p. 235. 

2 Pennsylvania Archivee, vol. 6, p. 631. 



98 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

United States senators from Pennsylvania, who was then 
a resident at Sunbury, wrote to the Executive Council in 
a most pitiful tone ^ 

**I left Sunbury, and almost ray whole property on Wednes- 
day last. I never in my life saw such scenes of distress. The 
river and the roads leading- down were covered with men, 
women and children, fleeing" for their lives, many without any 
property at all, and none who had not left the greater part be- 
hind. In short, Northumberland county is broken up. Colonel 
Hunter alone remained using- his utmost endeavors to rally 
some of the inhabitants, and to make a stand, however short, 
ag-ainst the enemy. I left him with very few, probably not 
more than a hundred men on whom he can depend. Wyoming- 
is totally abandoned. Scarce a family remained between that 
place and Sunbury, when I came away. The panic and flig-ht 
has reached to this place (Paxtang-). Many have moved even 
out of this township. . . . For God's sake, for the sake of the 
county, let Colonel Hunter be re-inforced at Sunbury. Send 
him but a single company, if you cannot do more. . . . The 
miserable example of the Wyoming people, who have come 
down absolutely naked among us, has operated strongly, and 
the cry has been, 'Let us move while we may, and let us carry 
some of our effects along with us.' . . . Something ought to 
be done for the many miserable objects that crowd the banks 
of this river, especially those who fled from Wyoming. They 
are a people you know, I did not use to love, but now I most sin- 
cerely pity their distress. ..." 

Here is a picture describing the scene near Lewis- 
burg : 2 

"I took my family safely to Sunbury, and came back in a 
keel-boat to secure my furniture. Just as I rounded a point 
above Derrstown (Lewisburg), I met the whole convoy from 
the forts above. Such a sight I never saw in my life. Boats, 
canoes, hog troughs, rafts hastily made of dry sticks, every 
sort of floating article had been put in requisition and were 
crowded with women, children and plunder. Whenever any 
obstruction occurred at a shoal or ripple, the women would 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 634. 

2 History of the Juniata and Susquehanna Valleys, vol. 1, p. 108. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 99 

leap out into the water aud put their shoulders to the boat or 
raft and launch it ag-ain into deep water. The men came down 
in sing-le file on each side of the river, to guard the women and 
children. The whole convoy arrived safely at Sunbury, leav- 
ing- the entire range of farms on the West Branch to the rav- 
ages of the Indians." 

In answer to these appeals, Colonel Brodhead, who 
was approaching the Standing Stone (Huntingdon) on 
his way to Pittsburg, was ordered to the West Branch 
with his regiment. 1 He was at Fort Muncy by the 24th 
of July. He sent a company to Penn's Valley to protect 
the reapers while they cut the grain. His arrival had 
induced great numbers of the settlers to come back and 
garner their grain. ^ This was perilous work, for the In- 
dians fell upon the soldiers in several instances. In spite 
of these heroic efforts to save the harvests, the loss from 
the "Great Runaway" was estimated at $200,000. 

But the Eighth Regiment was under orders to go to 
Fort Pitt, and its good work of restoring confidence had 
to be handed over to others. As the murdering, pillaging 
and burning did not stop in the West Branch valley, 
Colonel Thomas Hartley's regulars from New Jersey, and 
a body of militia from the neighboring counties, came 
none too soon. He was at Sunbury by the first of Au- 
gust, and at Muncy by the eighth. His men continued 
to do duty as guards in the harvest fields, and soon en- 
countered the savages with the same deadly results that 
were experienced by Brodhead's troops.^ Thomas Hart- 
ley was born on a farm in Berks county.* He studied law 
and practiced at York when the Revolution began. He 
now took a prominent part in the councils of York county 
and joined the army in December, 1775, as Lieutenant 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 635. 

2 Ibid, p. 660. 

3 Pennsylvania ArchiveB, vol. 6, p. 689. 

4 Penna. and the Federal Constitution, pp. 733-734. 



100 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

Colonel. In the battles of Brandy wine and German town, 
he commanded the Pennsylvania brigade. Having been 
chosen to the Assembly, he resigned his command in 
1779, and Congress bore testimony of the "high sense of 
Colonel Hartley's merit and services. " He served on the 
Council of Censors in 1783, gave his vote in the Pennsyl- 
vania Convention for the Federal Constitution, and was a 
member of Congress under it until he died in York, 1800. 
In September, Colonel Hartley planned an expedition 
up the West Branch and to Tioga (Athens), to destroy 
some of the villages of the Indians, and break up their 
places of rendezvous . Though the people had come back , 
the savages were still very troublesome. Among those 
murdered in the harvest fields since Hartley's arrival was 
the young hero, James Brady, son of Captain John Brady, 
and brother of Sam, the scout. The force under Hart- 
ley now numbered 600 militia and 100 regulars ; but as 
he had to give ample protection to the settlers during his 
absence, there were only about 200 men at his disposal 
for the expedition. His route, beginning at Muncy, was 
up Lycoming creek, and thence down Towanda creek to 
the North Branch. The march began at 4 A. m. , Septem- 
ber 2ist. Rains, swamps, mountains, defiles and rocks 
impeded the m arch . The men swam or waded the Lycom- 
ing upwards of twenty times — about as often as the rail- 
road now crosses it. Colonel Hartley, in his report to 
Congress,^ said that " the Difficulties in Crossing the Alps 
or passing up Kennipeck could not have been greater." 
He found the haunts and lurking places of the savage 
murderers who had desolated the frontiers, and saw the 
huts where they had dressed and dried the scalps of women 
and children. On the morning of the 26th, the expedi- 



1 Pennsylvauia Archives, vol. 7, p. 5. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 101 

tion met a party of Indians and killed the chief. A few 
miles farther on, they came upon a camp where seventy 
Indians had slept the night before. These all had fled, 
and the way to Tioga was opened. This town — Queen 
Esther's Town — was burned and all the villages about. 
If she was at Wyoming, as some historians claim, like a 
chafed tigress, the retribution which tradition says over- 
took her in Sullivan's expedition the next year,^ must 
have begun now. On the 28th, Hartley crossed the river 
and marched towards Wyalusing, in the North Branch 
Valley. Here seventy of the men, " from real or pre- 
tended lameness," went into the boats ; others rode on 
the empty pack-horses ; and only about 120 men fell in 
the line of march. They were attacked once or twice by 
the Indians, but succeeded in killing ten of them, with a 
loss to themselves of "four killed and ten wounded." 
There was no further trouble encountered on the march, 
and the expedition arrived at Wyoming in good spirits. 
Here Hartley left half his force, and did all he could for 
the good of the settlement ; but he asked Congress for a 
regiment of the Continental Line to march there ; but his 
advice was not heeded. The expedition returned to Sun- 
bury October 5th, having performed a circuit of nearly 
300 miles in two weeks. The Executive Council passed 
a vote of thanks for the * * brave and prudent conduct ' ' of 
Colonel Hartley and his men, in repelling the savages 
and other enemies from the frontiers.^ 

Colonel Hartley remained on the North Branch till 
the close of the year ; but he had to contend with a scar- 
city of troops. The volunteers refused to do duty longer, 
unless the bounty offered them when they enlisted were 
paid. Some of the men had paid as high as thirty pounds 

1 Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 1, p. 340. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 81. 



102 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

for their trusty rifles and they now insisted on being re- 
imbursed. The Indians, too, continued to harass the set- 
tlers ; especially in November, when a number of murders 
were committed at Fort Freeland. It was, therefore, 
with deep regret that the people of Northumberland saw 
Colonel Hartley depart for another field of duty ; though 
he left his one hundred regulars with them. He had 
done more for them than had ever been done before. 
Their outlook for the winter was dark indeed. Grain was 
so dear that the poor, and they were now in the majority, 
could not buy it. For the high price of grain, the 
monopolizers and the forestallers were to blame. They 
were looked upon as worse enemies than the Indians or 
the British. 1 

The border war of 1778 reached even the frontiers of 
Northampton county. Shortly after Colonel Butler fell 
upon Wyoming, news reached Fort Penn that a company 
of Tories and Indians had arrived in the county above the 
Minisinks and were massacreing "all men, women and 
children, even those who had been captured by them be- 
fore and dismissed by them with certain badges of dis- 
tinction . " 2 Jacob Stroud begged for aid from the Lieu- 
tenant of the county, as the settlement at Fort Penn was 
only about sixty men strong then. Happily the danger 
passed by. But the Indians were a constant menace to 
the Delaware Valley above the Blue Mountains. Many 
of the people fled to New Jersey ; the militia that had 
been called out in July, had served their time ; and so in 
October,^ Colonel Stroud wrote again for help. He told 
the Council that the Tories were most to blame for the 
unhappy situation. These had their families, relatives 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 117. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 651. 

3 Ibid, vol. 7, p. 63. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 103 

and correspondents in the settlements, and knew just 
where and when to strike at them through their savage 
tools. The people of Northampton were not as safe now 
as they were while Wyoming formed a barrier to the north. 
This increased danger of Indian ravages was likewise duly 
emphasized in the appeal for aid. But in Northampton, 
as elsewhere on the frontiers, help seldom came until after 
the interior counties themselves were in danger of attack. 
This was, no doubt, partly due to indiflference, but mostly 
to the constant drainage of men and means for the Conti- 
nental army. Then, too, the jealousy between North- 
ampton and Northumberland on the one hand, and Wy- 
oming on the other, as well as between the Westmore- 
landers and the Virginians, had much to do with a lack 
of prompt and united action against the savages. In a 
letter witten by a gentlemen from Easton to Vice-Presi- 
dent Bryan, ^ a month after the Wyoming massacre, he 
says : 

"But as the late great settlement at Wyoming is now de- 
stroyed, ... an important question will arise, wherein the 
interest and peace of the several states may be involved. How 
far encouragement or even permission for the settlement of 
that country again, should be allowed by any states, collect- 
ively or disjunctively, under color of making- settlements, or 
regaining- possession of lands upon any particular claim or 
right." 

It will be remembered, too, what Wm. McClay wrote 
about the people of Wyoming at the time of the * ' Big 
Runaway." (See p. 98). 

When the year 1779 opened, not much had been accom- 
plished in the way of carrying the border war into the 
Indian country. Colonel Gibson, at Fort I^aurens, occu- 
pied the most advanced point reached. However, his 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 6, p. 720. 



104 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

presence in the Indian country did not prevent the 
treacherous Delawares and Mingoes under Simon Girty, 
from killing some of the soldiers who had brought him 
supplies from Fort Pitt. A party from the fort had gone 
out for wood, and they were all killed in sight of the fort 
except two who were made captives. These things hap- 
pened in January. Becoming emboldened, the savages 
next besieged the fort, and only withdrew because their 
own supplies gave out. Before they had left, a messenger 
managed to steal through their lines and informed General 
Mcintosh at Fort Pitt of the critical situation at Fort 
Laurens. He quickly raised a force of 200 militia west 
of the mountains, and with these and the Continental 
troops at Fort Pitt, he set out for Fort Laurens and ar- 
rived there on the 23rd of March to find the enemy gone ; 
but a salute fired by the garrison frightened the pack 
horses, causing them to break loose and scatter the pro- 
visions in the forest. This was a severe loss. The men 
in the fort had subsisted on raw hides and roots for nearly 
a week. Mcintosh had planned to march to Sandusky 
and destroy the towns of the Wyandots ; but the ground 
being wet and provisions scarce, he had to abandon the 
project and return to Fort Mcintosh, leaving a small gar- 
rison at Fort Laurens.^ 

The Georgia General had previously asked to be re- 
lieved of the command of the Western department, ^ and 
General Washington designated Colonel Brodhead to suc- 
ceed him. Colonel Lochry, May i,^ wrote to President 
Reed, that not less than forty people had been killed, 
wounded and captured that spring, and that the enemy 
had killed people within three hundred yards off Hannas- 



1 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 31-33. 

2 Journals of Congress, February 20th, 1779. 

3 PennsylTania Archives, vol. 7, p. 3b2. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 105 

town. They had come in such large numbers that it 
seemed useless to make a stand against them. This was 
the time when the distracted frontiersmen expressed their 
desire for a scalp law. They were raising volunteers to 
be added to some militia from York, Cumberland and 
I^ancaster counties ; ^ but there were no arms, as the In- 
dians had captured a great number and what were left 
were out of repairs. Besides the militia "down below" 
did not come as ordered on account of "the aversion of 
the people to such service. "^ This was a common ex- 
cuse made by the militia "down below" for not respond- 
ing to calls from the frontier. 

From the Bedford, Northumberland and Northampton 
frontiers came the same distressing news. Not far from 
Frankstown, now in Blair county, the Indians held a ren- 
dezvous, where they had erected a dozen bark houses, each 
of which would do for three to sleep under. ^ The people 
in the Standing Stone Valley and Penn's Valley were all in 
the forts as early as May,^ and reported that unless assisted 
by guards they would be obliged to leave. "For my own 
part," writes General James Potter, the holder of thou- 
sands of acres of land in the heart of Penn's Valley, "I 
am sorry I have not moved ojBf one year ago. ' ' On April 
II occurred the death of Captain John Brady, near the 
mouth of Muncy Creek. He had gone out of the fort 
with a team and a guard to get some provisions up the 
stream. On their return, Brady remarked while passing 
through a thicket, "This would be a good place for In- 
dians to secrete themselves." That instant three rifles 
cracked and Brady fell dead. Rapine now followed 
throughout the North Branch, murder and pillage were 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 305. 

2 Ibid, p. 430. 

3 Ibid, p. 702. 

4 Ibid, p. 419. 



106 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

of daily occurrence, fire, smoke and desolation were seen 
in all directions, and it was difficult to get the spring 
crops in and induce the people to stay in the country.^ 
William McClay proposed to the Council the use of dogs 
against the savages. It seems that in a few instances 
they had been employed with success in hunting the In- 
dians ; yet he admitted that his scheme was ridiculed. 
He was of the opinion that a single troop of light horse, 
attended by dogs, would destroy more Indians than 5,000 
men stationed in forts. ^ On the North Branch the sav- 
ages made their appearance at the same time. Yet when 
Colonel Butler reported it to the Board of War, one 
of the members said : " It's impossible — it can't be 
so." . . . To quiet these disturbances, General Wash- 
ington, in April, sent General Hand to take charge of the 
troops on the Susquehanna. He took with him what 
was known as the German Regiment, recruited from the 
German counties in Pennsylvania. But as it numbered 
only about 250 men,^ and as the principal object of his 
command lay above Wyoming, preparatory to Sullivan's 
expedition, in August, not much relief could be expected 
by the settlements around Sunbury.* 

Sullivan's expedition was the result of a plan formed 
by Washington early in the year. Congress had author- 
ized him, February 25th, ^ "to take effectual measures 
for the protection of the inhabitants and the chastisement 
of the savages. ' ' The Commander-in-chief now resolved 
to carry the war into the heart of the country of the Six 
Nations, to cut off their settlements, destroy their crops, 
and do them every other mischief which time and circum- 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 346. 

2 Ibid, p. 357. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, vol. 11, p. 5. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol.7, p. 321. 

5 Journals of Congress, vol. 5, p. 55. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 107 

stances will permit." ^ He estimated the whole number 
of warriors in the Six Nations, including the Tories, who 
had joined them, at 3,000. To these he added what aid 
they might be able to get from Canada, and the British 
forts on the frontiers. To meet them, a force of about 
4,000 would be needed, he thought. The plan of cam- 
paign involved a combined movement of two divisions — 
one from Pennsylvania up the Susquehanna to the Tioga 
river, under General Sullivan as chief in command, and 
one from New York, under General Clinton, to form a 
junction with Sullivan. The expedition was to be the 
principal campaign of 1779,^ and the one most promising 
of success. General Gates was Washington's choice for 
the command ; but he declined, saying that the man to 
take it " should enjoy youth and health." 

Washington had at first also included in his plan an 
expedition under General Brodhead from Fort Pitt. It 
was to move from Kittanning up the Allegheny, and co- 
operate with Sullivan as circumstances might permit. In 
closing his instructions to Brodhead, Washington gives 
us another view into the unhappy divisions that still ex- 
isted at Fort Pitt between the Pennsylvanians and the 
Virginians.^ It had jeopardized the success of former 
operations in that quarter, and Washington was therefore 
anxious that his General should not interest himself in it. 
The same caution was given by President Reed, about a 
month later, to Colonel Hunter, who in this time of com- 
mon danger was to cultivate harmony with the people of 
Wyoming, leaving the unhappy disputes to be settled 
some other time. * But the idea of attempting a co-opera- 
tion between the troops at Fort Pitt and the armies mov- 

1 Writing-s of Geo. Washington, vol. 7, p. 354. 

2 Ibid, p. 402. 

3 Ibid, p. 372. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 317. 



108 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

ing from other quarters against the Six Nations was 
abandoned in April. ^ Brodhead was to await the result 
of Sullivan's expedition, and in the meantime get ready 
for a similar enterprise against Detroit. The commander 
at Fort Pitt first gave necessary relief to Fort I^aurens, 
for the post had been subsisting on herbs, salt and cow- 
hides. He sent out some good, wholesome food, and 
plenty of strong whiskey. But in spite of all these efforts 
to maintain a tort in the Indian country, it had to be 
abandoned in August ; for it was once more threatened 
by a large force of Indians. It was never again garri- 
soned, nor was it destroyed during the war.^ 

To give some relief to the people of Westmoreland and 
Bedford, Brodhead got permission from Washington to 
conduct an expedition up the Allegheny into the country 
of the Senecas . Kittanning had previously been strength- 
ened by means of Fort Armstrong ; and Captain Sam 
Brady, of the Eighth Pennsylvania, had made a success- 
ful raid into the country above. Captain Brady was the 
son of Colonel John Brady. He was cradled among the 
dangers of frontier life, passed through many conflicts 
with the Indians, and had several hairbreadth escapes 
from death. He was but nineteen when he entered the 
army at Boston, and won for himself a first lieutenancy. 
In 1779, he was brevetted captain and ordered to join 
General Brodhead. He remained in the service to the 
close of the war. The Indian party whom Captain Brady 
followed from Kittanning had killed a soldier, a woman 
and four children, and taken two children captive. He 
killed their captain, retook their plunder, and rescued the 
two children. It was this daring deed that lent hope to 
Colonel Brodhead 's enterprise. After collecting all the 

1 Washington's Writings, vol. 7, p. 410. 

2 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 38. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 109 

available forces at Fort Pitt — friendly Delawares, militia 
and regulars, about 600 men rank and file — Brodhead, 
with Colonel Gibson second in command, advanced on 
the I ith ol August up the Allegheny. Above the mouth 
of the Mahoning, the advance guard fell in with thirty or 
forty warriors, coming down the river in seven canoes. 
A sharp contest ensued, which resulted in the defeat of 
the Indians and the capture of their canoes. The expe- 
dition then moved to within four miles of the State line, 
but found most of the Indian towns evacuated. Brod- 
head's troops burned every one of them, laid waste many 
acres of corn , and secured much valuable booty. Return- 
ing, they took the Venango road, and arrived at Fort Pitt 
September 14th, without the loss of a man.^ Brodhead 
received a vote of thanks from Congress for his successful 
enterprise. 2 

Naturally, the success of the expedition into the Seneca 
country made the commander at Fort Pitt anxious to pro- 
ceed against Detroit. But he had no orders to that effect, 
and could get none ; ^ for Washington was not able to 
send him the men and supplies for such an expedition. 
The fact was, that the men already in Brodhead 's com- 
mand were naked and shoeless. Nor was there any im- 
mediate necessity for the expedition, since the Western 
frontier enjoyed comparative quiet the rest of the year. 
It seems, however, that the lull was productive of a dis- 
pute between Colonel Brodhead and the Lieutenant of 
Westmoreland county. Congress, in the spring, had or- 
dered five companies of rangers to be raised in the frontier 
counties — " good woodsmen, and eager to revenge the 



1 The Olden Time, rol. 2, p. 305. 

2 Journal of Congress, vol. 5, p. 296. 

3 Washing-ton's Writing-s, toI. 8, p. 150. 



110 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

barbarities they had sustained from the savages." ^ The 
two companies from Westmoreland went with Brodhead's 
expedition, and when he returned to Fort Pitt he kept 
them there in the barracks. Lochry wanted them at Han- 
nastown, and, as the captain of one of them was his son- 
in-law, ^ the latter left his post without Brodhead's per- 
mission. Some of these rangers enlisted in the Eighth 
Pennsylvania, and this, too, gave rise to a dispute between 
these gentlemen. Though the matter did not amount to 
much, yet it was the beginning of more serious dissen- 
sions in the future.^ 

It seems that the inferior officers and private soldiers 
at Fort Pitt also had difficulties to contend with at the 
close of the year. The depreciation of paper money had 
become a serious burden to them, as well as to the whole 
country. Even the Indians would not accept it. Penn- 
sylvania had tried every remedy but the right one to lessen 
its evil effects. The only expedient that seemed natural 
to adopt was to prohibit excessive prices. Every town- 
ship and county had its committee of prices, a scale ot 
prices having been authorized and published , and a per- 
son offering or giving an extravagant price was to be 
summoned for a hearing.* But the traders on the fron- 
tiers paid no attention to these regulations ; and so the 
officers of the line and staff at Fort Pitt held a meeting, 
and appointed a committee to investigate the regulations 
adopted " down the country," and thus force the traders 
to sell at the same prices, on penalty of being expelled 
from the country west of the Allegheny mountains.^ 

The impossibility of an expedition against Detroit, 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 664. 

2 Ibid, vol. 8, p. 40. 

3 Ibid, p. 109. 

4 Ibid, vol. 8, p. 250. 

5 Pennsylvania Packet, June 1st, 1779. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. Ill 

though a great disappointment to Brodhead, is evident 
from the difficulties that attended the organization of Sul- 
livan 's. In July,i General Washington wrote to the 
Executive Council that he feared the troops requested of 
Pennsylvania would not be furnished, and entreats in the 
most pressing terms that the Council forward their quota. 
It was not in his power to send a greater Continental force. 
He had ' * stretched this string as hard as it will possibly 
bear.*' General Sullivan had made Easton his head- 
quarters, and had expected to march the army for Wyom- 
ing the first week in June,^ but he did not start until the 
1 8th. He had to get warrants from the Council to pro- 
cure wagons and horses ; for Pennsylvania had a law by 
which wagon-masters were appointed in each county, 
subordinate to a wagon-master general, who received his 
orders from the Executive Council.^ As this was a more 
roundabout method than impressment, there was much 
delay in getting the transportation train under way. Sul- 
livan procured a hundred wagons and teams in Bucks and 
Northampton counties. These were used to haul the 
stores to Middletown on the Susquehanna, whence they 
were to be transported up the North Branch in boats. 
The demand for these wagons and boats had much to do 
with the failure to raise the ranging companies intended 
for Sullivan ; for the expedition was under the authority 
of Congress, and the latter paid more for the service of 
transportation than Pennsylvania offered for military duty . * 
Having provided transportation for the stores, Sulli- 
van marched out of Easton, June i8th, with a force of 
2,500 men, but the rangers of Pennsylvania had not joined 



1 Peonsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 539. 

2 Ibid, p. 450. 

3 Ibid, p. 427. 

4 Ibid, p. 458. 



112 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

liim,^ nor were " any about to do it." On the 23rd, the 
army arrived at Wyoming by way of the Wind Gap and 
the Pocono Mountain, passing over the most barren coun- 
try ever seen by a man from the Granite State even . ^ 
Wyoming's massacre was then a year old, and the story 
of its horrors, the charred remains of its houses, and the 
two hundred and fifty widows of its slain defenders, nerved 
and strengthened the men for the campaign before them. 
A stay of more than a month was made here to await the 
arrival of the provisions and the military stores. The 
fleet that brought these came up the North Branch, July 
24th, 134 boats strong, and was saluted by thirteen guns 
from the garrison at Wyoming. 

The British had not failed to note the movements of 
this large army. Before it left Wyoming, attacks were 
made by strong bodies of Indians and British to the right 
and to the left of it. To the right of it, Captain Brandt, 
the Mohawk Chief, with some 60 Indians, and 30 Tories 
disguised as Indians — which was a very common practice 
with the Loyalists when acting with the savages — made 
an incursion into the Delaware Valley. ^ Though the bat- 
tle that ensued occurred at Minisink, in New York, yet 
it was just across the border from the Minisinks in Penn- 
sylvania, and many of the fugitives made their escape to 
the latter place. The Lieutenant of Northampton county 
at once notified the Executive Council, and hurriedly or- 
dered out the militia. The Council promptly forwarded 
powder and lead ; but the militia was slow to respond. 
Colonel Stroud, of Fort Penn, was expected to defend the 
settlements above the Delaware Water Gap. But the 
Lieutenant of Northampton county failed to supply him 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol, 7, p. 568. 

2 General Sullivan's Indian Expedition, p. 181. 

3 Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 1, p. 415. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 113 

with troops. So he took steps of his own to collect sol- 
diers, and then came a clash, which had to be investigated 
by the Executive Council.^ The trouble was the same 
as elsewhere — the people not immediately exposed to the 
attacks of the Indians thought themselves safe, and did 
not answer the call as they should have done. President 
Reed, however, lost none of his faith in the militia. He 
said, " It was to this force, and not to standing troops or 
volunteer companies raised for a few months and stationed 
in forts, that New England delivered herself from the most 
horrible Indian wars." But he forgot that the people of 
his State had never had a compulsory militia law before 
the Revolution, and that their training in answering to 
calls was therefore not calculated to make them prompt 
now. Fortunately, Northampton county was not visited 
by Brandt. He had to retrace his footsteps to protect his 
own home, for General Sullivan would not allow himself 
to be turned aside. 

To the right, in Northumberland county, the same 
tactics were employed to divide or turn back the expedi- 
tion. The first attack was made upon Fort Freeland, 15 
miles from Northumberland . It was surrounded on the 
morning of July 28th, by about 300 British and Indians 
under Captain McDonald. There were twenty-one men 
in the fort, and some women and children. The women 
at once began to run their spoons and plates into bullets ; 
but the men had to surrender. However, to the presence 
of Sullivan at Wyoming, no doubt was due the favorable 
condition that the old men, women and children should 
be set free. In this way, one lad of sixteen was able to 
avoid captivity by quickly putting on his mother's 
clothes. A party sent from Northumberland ^ to succor 

1 Frontier Forts, vol. 1, pp. 341-345. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 589. 



114 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

the garrison at Freeland's was met by a superior force 
and lost the captain and twelve men, killed and scalped. 
Again the situation in Northumberland beggared descrip- 
tion, not a single inhabitant being north of Northumber- 
land Town.^ But Sullivan, though appealed to by Colo- 
nel Hunter for help, would not "answer the intention of 
the enemy and destroy the grand object of this expedi- 
tion." "Tomorrow morning," he wrote on the 30th of 
July, "the army moves from Wyoming and by carrying 
the war into the Indian country, it will certainly draw 
them out of yours." General Sullivan might have had 
more sympathy if Pennsylvania had furnished the troops 
Congress had asked for. Since she did not furnish them, 
he concluded she certainly would be able to defend her 
frontiers without much inconvenience. ^ 

Sullivan was correct ; for as soon as his drums and 
fifes had played in sprightly unison and reveille — 

"Don't you hear your General say, 
Strike your tents and march away?" 

Captain McDonald fled as precipitately from the frontiers 
of Northumberland as Brandt from the Valley of the 
Delaware. The expedition, with its pack horses and cat- 
tle, moved out of Wyoming the last day of July, passing 
many houses and farms ruined and laid waste by the 
enemy soon to be encountered. The artillery followed in 
boats, 120 in number and forming a line nearly two miles 
long. The army reached Tioga Flats on the nth of 
August, and General Clinton formed a junction with it 
on the 22nd. Clinton likewise had met with disappoint- 
ment in not getting as many troops as he had expected. 
The Oneidas and some Onondagas had volunteered to 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 7, p. 593. 

2 Ibid, p. 594. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 115 

join him, but at the last moment they received a warning 
from General Haldimand, that he would let loose upon 
them such a number of his Indian allies as would con- 
vince them of their folly when too late.^ After erecting 
a strong stockade at Tioga Plains, and stationing a gar- 
rison in it, General Sullivan slowly moved up the Che- 
mung to give battle to the enemy at Newtown, the site of 
Elmira now. Brandt commanded the Indians, and Colo- 
nel John Butler the British and Tories. They were en- 
trenched behind breastworks half a mile long and difficult 
of approach. Their works were masked by shrubs stuck 
in the ground, as if still growing. They contested their 
position bravely, but were compelled to break and flee. 
It was the 28th of August. The fields were ripe with 
corn, squashes, beans, potatoes and other vegetables. 
These were destroyed wherever found. Immense orchards 
of peach trees were laid waste, and the whole Indian 
country of the Lake region, including some forty towns, 
was laid in ashes. One whole month was devoted to the 
work of devastation, which had been enjoined upon Sul- 
livan in Washington 's instruction . On the 5th of October 
the whole army, except the pack horses and their attend- 
ants, embarked in boats and floated merrily down the 
Susquehanna to Wyoming, where they arrived on the 8th 
of October, and were feasted for two days on venison and 
turkey. In spite of the fact that Congress had found fault 
with Sullivan for having requested an unreasonable 
amount of provisions, "- the troops had been on half rations 
for some time.^ The sumptuous feast at Wyoming was 
therefore badly needed for the march to Easton, where 
they completed their victorious expedition, October 15th. 



1 Stone'i Lif« of Brandt, vol. 2, p. 8. 

2 Journal of Congress, vol. 5, p. 252. 

3 General Sullivan's Indian Expedition, p. 167. 



116 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

The day before Congress had passed a resolution thanking 
General Sullivan and his army for their important ser- 
vices, and setting apart a day of general thanksgiving in 
the United States. ^ 

The expedition of Sullivan and that of Brodhead, to- 
gether with the surrender of Hamilton to Clark in the 
same year, marked the high tide of border warfare in Penn- 
sylvania. When Governor Hamilton had learned of 
Clark's success in 1778, he at once started out with a 
little army of 500 British, Tories and Indians and marched 
through the forest to Vincennes. Taking possession of 
it, he spent the winter making alliances with the Indians. 
But late in February the crafty Virginian appeared before 
Vincennes, and after getting willing possession of the 
town, forced Governor Hamilton to surrender. Instead 
of having the carnival of burning and scalping which he 
had planned for the summer, the cruel Britisher went to 
Virginia, a prisoner of war, to be exchanged in New York 
and allowed to return to England, March 10, 1781.2 His 
successor at Detroit was DePeyster, who was more 
humane than Hamilton, for he told the Delawares, when 
later they joined the British cause, that he preferred live 
meat (meaning prisoners) to scalps. 

Though the expeditions of 1779 put an end to organized 
Indian invasions, they did not stop the depredations of 
isolated bands. So exasperating did these again become 
that the year 1780 marks the time when premiums for 
scalps were offered by the authorities of Pennsylvania. 
On the Western frontier the attacks began as early as the 
middle of March, on the Ohio south of Pittsburg ; and by 
Mav thev had reached Westmoreland.^ Most of the in- 



1 Journals of Congress, p. 289. 

2 Haldimand MSS., Book 123, p. 53. 

3 Pennsylvania ArchiTes, vol. 8, p. 246. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 117 

habitants were again in the forts, and the work in the 
fields had to be done with guns close at hand. Ranging 
companies were organized at the expense of the people, 
who subscribed liberally. But a great scarcity of powder 
existed. Some that had been sent was damaged in the 
carriage over the mountains, and what was received in 
good order was accompanied with a request to use spar- 
ingly, as the lower counties were heavily taxed audit was 
necessary to convince them that care and prudence would 
be exercised. Moreover, help of any kind was not to be 
expected from Philadelphia in the summer of 1780. The 
British were in New Jersey, scarce two days' journey 
away, and Washington required the support of Eastern 
Pennsylvania, lest the consequences of an accident might 
be fatal to the city.^ It is therefore not surprising that 
the calls from the frontier were loud and impatient. 
They came from Huntingdon ^ and Bedford,^ where the 
presence of the Indians was a greater menace even than 
in Westmoreland ; for the preparations to meet them were 
not so extensive. Huntingdon had only four or five pack 
horses and wanted two or three beef cattle "drove down" 
from Bedford ; while Bedford had four horses and wanted 
six more, one driver, and a supply of forage.* No 
wonder President Reed wrote to Colonel Piper, Lieuten- 
ant of Bedford county, that the public business was some- 
times delayed a whole day while members of the Council 
were employed in looking for horses and wagons. 

On the loth of July, to give relief to the Western 
country, Colonel Brodhead informed the Lieutenants of 
his department that he would make an attack upon the 
Wyandots upon the Sandusky. But before he was ready 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 318. 

2 Ibid, p 278. 

3 Ibid, p. 297. 

4 Ibid, p. 350. 



118 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

news arrived that a body of thirty of their warriors had 
attacked the settlements southwest of Fort Pitt. He sent 
a detachment down the river to intercept the savages. 
The movement was successful, for the whole party were 
killed, but not before some unsuspecting harvesters had 
been surprised and shot.^ This affair made Brodhead 
all the more anxious to proceed to Sandusky. But he 
had only one day's allowance of bread and three or four 
of beef, and the conflicting authority of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia made it difficult to get supplies.^ The time for 
starting to the Sandusky was now postponed until Oc- 
tober ; but when that time had arrived, all hope of the 
expedition was abandoned.^ Brodhead deeply lamented 
the failure to "retaliate on the hell-hounds of the forest." 
However, he felt that the blame did not lie at his door. 
"The want of provisions," wrote Washington, "is a clog 
to our operations in every quarter." * Added to his cha- 
grin, the Colonel was much annoyed by the disaffection 
of the inhabitants west of the mountains. They often 
drank the health of George III, and seemed to desire the 
removal of the Continental troops to give them a chance 
to submit to the British Government.^ 

On the Northumberland frontier there were fewer de- 
predations committed in 1780 than in the years before ; 
but they were sufficient in number to keep the people in 
daily fear. The German regiment was stationed in the 
valley, but it did not seem to be of much account,^ for 
they would not stir a foot off their posts without some 
other support. The Indians made their appearance in 



1 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 48. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 536. 

3 The Olden Time, vol. 2, p. 375. 

4 Washing-ton-Irrine Correspondence, p. 49. 

5 The Olden Time, vol. 2, p. 378. 

6 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, pp. 156, 157 and 172. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 119 

April, ^ coming as far down even as Colonel Hunter's 
plantation, fifteen miles from Sunbury. Here they killed 
a man and child and carried off a woman. Northumber- 
land Town was almost abandoned, and there was danger 
of another "Runaway." During the summer the usual 
appeals for help were sent to Philadelphia, and several 
companies of militia from the nearby counties were 
ordered into Northumberland. In September ^ a large 
body of Indians appeared at Fort Rice, which had been 
put up the fall before by the Pennsylvania Germans and 
occupied by them. These having now been withdrawn, 
the Indians thought it a favorable chance to attack the fort. 
Colonel Kelley was first ordered to relieve the small gar- 
rison ; but when he got there the enemy had gone off to 
set fire to the barns and grain-stacks in the valley. 
Learning that there were some two or three hundred 
Indians, General Potter, who was then home from Camp, 
marched to Muncy Hill. But the wily savages, having 
accomplished their work of ruin, escaped with but one 
scalp and one prisoner, but with a large number of horses 
and cattle. 

General Potter,^ born in Ireland, was the son of the 
first Sheriff of Cumberland county, served in the French 
war as lieutenant, and pursued the Indians who had 
killed school-master Brown and his ten pupils near the 
present site of Greencastle. When the Revolution made 
it necessary for the Associators to organize, he became 
Colonel of the Upper Battalion of Northumberland 
county. He commanded the men of his county at Tren- 
ton and Princeton, and was a brigadier-general at Brandy- 
wine and Germantown. In 1778 he was at his home in 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 156. 

2 Ibid. p. 567. 

3 Pennsylvania Mag'., vol. 8, p. 563. 



120 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

Penn's Valley on account of his wife's sickness and as- 
sisted in repelling the savages. He held important State 
offices after the war and died on his large estate in Penn's 
Valley, 1784, being a member of the Council of Censors 
at the time of his death. 

The Indian invasions made so early on the frontiers 
of Northumberland were a part of a general movement 
that proceeded from Niagara. It fell heaviest upon New 
York,i however, where one of the first things done by 
Brandt was to fulfill the threat of Sir Frederick Haldi- 
mand against the Oneidas. It had been a very severe 
winter, so cold that in New York harbor cannon were 
wheeled on the ice from Staten Island to the city. The 
Indians who had been driven from their comfortable 
homes in the lake region of New York suffered greatly in 
their narrow and crowded quarters at Niagara. ^ Spring 
therefore was welcomed by them that they might satisfy 
their thirst for revenge. They probably, and correctly 
so, counted on a feeling of security on the frontiers after 
Sullivan's Expedition. The first news from the North 
Branch concerning Indian attacks reached Philadelphia 
through the military commanders of Northumberland 
county. ^ Then Colonel Stroud of Northampton informed 
the Council of the distress which "the unexpected and 
cruel invasion of the savages had occasioned." * About 
the middle of April he reported that two men had been 
captured a few miles from his house, up the Delaware, 
and that the inhabitants were fleeing below the moun- 
tains towards Easton, Bethlehem and Nazareth. The 
reports from Wyoming, or the North Branch, had not 
been exaggerated. One of the first captives made by the 

1 Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 2, chapter 2, passim. 
1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 591. 

3 Ibid, pp. 157-171. 

4 Ibid, p. 176. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania . 121 

Indians was a man who had escaped from Queen Esther's 
ring of murderous torture, 1778.^ He was a prize of more 
than ordinary value. After committing various outrages 
in the very heart of the settlement, they pushed down to 
Fishing Creek, where they took the famous Moses Van 
Campen prisoner, after scalping his father, brother and 
uncle. There were at this time only about 120 men at 
Wyoming, the consolidated independent companies and a 
detachment of the German regiment. These were dis- 
tributed among the forts and in scouting parties. While 
they gave comparative security, they were not able to 
keep the savages from going around the settlements and 
penetrating even beyond the Blue Mountains. A party 
of Indians murdered a man and his three children on the 
Schuylkill, 33 miles north of Reading; ^ at Tunkhan- 
nock, some booty was received that was supposed to have 
been taken at Fort Allen, below the Lehigh Water Gap ; 
while a man and his daughter were captured near Mauch 
Chunk and carried to Niagara.^ Under these common 
dangers and sufferings, it would not seem possible for the 
territorial bitterness to come to the surface ; yet such was 
the case.* Colonel Hunter, by order of President Reed,^ 
had stopped some supplies on their way up the Susque- 
nanna to Wyoming, while "jealousy and discontent" 
broke out between the soldiers from the lower counties 
of Pennsylvania and those of Wyoming. Congress there- 
fore ordered that Washington should station a garrison 
at Wyoming, to consist of troops "not belonging to the 
Line of Pennsylvania or Connecticut, or citizens of either 
of said States." 



1 Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 278. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 529. 

3 Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 286. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 649. 

5 Ibid, p. 717. 



122 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

New Year's sun in 1781 was veiled heavily, though 
before the close of the year Cornwallis had surrendered at 
York Town. The mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line at 
Morristown was evidence of the complete exhaustion of 
material resources for the Revolution. But none of the 
States had been so thoroughly drained as Pennsylvania. 
This State had not only been the residence of Congress, 
with all their train of attendants and officers, but also of 
all the military mechanism of the United States. From 
hence the quartermaster principally drew his wagons, his 
horses, his camp equipage of all kinds — besides a great 
number of wagoners and artificers. Prisoners of war and 
state had been largely the inheritance of Pennsylvania. 
All this was done at great expense to the State, and bur- 
dened it with a heavy load of debt. The substance of the 
people had been used, but in its place the)^ had nothing 
but money made of rags. Such was the condition of 
Pennsylvania when Congress made its requisition for sup- 
plies, in 1781, an amount equal to eleven years' taxes 
and all the other income of the State. ^ It is not surpris- 
ing, therefore, that the demands from the frontiers were 
harder to meet now than ever. In the very first letter of 
the year, received by President Reed from Colonel Brod- 
head, the latter had to apologize for his " tale of misfor- 
tune." 2 He had to send to Virginia for cattle, and Gov- 
ernor Jefferson had bought up all the flour in Pennsylvania 
west of the mountains. Scarcely a pound of either was 
left for the regulars at Fort Pitt, who, besides having 
scant rations, were almost naked, and would soon not have 
a rag to cover their nakedness. At the same time a grand 
council of British and Indians was in session at Detroit, 
planning a descent upon Western Pennsylvania. Money, 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, pp. 141-149. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 706. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania . 123 

fine uniforms and every other art of persuasion were used 
with the savages ; while Colonel Brodhead had never 
been furnished with goods of any kind, nor a penny of 
money to transact business with the Indians. They drove 
their cattle and swine to Detroit, and did business there 
on a gold basis, whereas at Fort Pitt they received money 
which even the Americans would not take from them. 
It was impossible, therefore, to hold the wavering Dela- 
wares any longer ; and not a single tribe beyond the Ohio 
remained friendly.^ Colonel Brodhead was informed of 
the defection of the Delawares by the Moravian missionary 
on the Muskingum — Heckewelder— and in April he or- 
ganized an expedition. He made a rapid march to the 
wilds of Ohio, and had an interview on the Muskingum 
with Heckewelder, as to the whereabouts of the Moravian 
Indians — converts of Heckewelder and his associate, 
Zeisberger. It was agreed that these Christian Indians 
were not to be disturbed, but it required the greatest ex- 
ertions of Brodhead to carry out his agreement ; for the 
militia hated the Christian Indians as much as the others. 
Nevertheless, it must be said that the peaceful attitude of 
the Delawares up to that time was largely due to these 
missionaries . Heckewelder was constantly with this tribe 
from 177 1- 1 786, and Zeisberger spent sixty-two years of 
his life among them and other tribes.^ The information 
of these men respecting Indian affairs during the Revo- 
lution was always eagerly sought,^ and they often gave 
timely warning of an intended raid on the Western fron- 
tiers. It is true, the Indian war parties that plundered 
and destroyed white settlers were sometimes sheltered and 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, p. 770. 

2 Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 7. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8, pp. 152-158 ; vol. 9, p. 57. 



124 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

harbored by the Moravian converts, ^ and even these them- 
selves occasionally joined in taking up the hatchet. ^ But 
we must not forget that there were numbers of such 
Americans as McKee, Elliott and Girty, who told them 
that the American armies had been all cut to pieces by 
the Knglish, that General Washington was killed, that 
there was no more Congress, that the English had hung 
some of its members and taken the others to England , to 
hang them there, that the whole country beyond the Alle- 
ghenies was in the possession of the English, and that the 
Americans on the west side of the mountains were pre- 
paring to kill all the Indians, even the women and chil- 
dren.^ Under such influences, it is not strange that the 
work of Heckewelder and Zeisberger and their co-laborers 
was sometimes without avail in holding their converted 
Indians for the American cause. 

Having arranged for the safety of the Moravian In- 
dians, Colonel Brodhead proceeded to Coshocton and at- 
tacked the hostile band, and made them sue for peace. 
He committed the care of the prisoners — about twenty — 
to the militia. Exasperated by the frequent outrages that 
had been committed against them, these frontiersmen on 
their way back to Pittsburg murdered and scalped the 
whole number in their charge, except a few women and 
children. Notwithstanding the chastisement of the Dela- 
wares, in April, the usual fright and flight of the settlers 
was reported from Westmoreland * and Bedford ^ in June 
and July ; and the designs upon Detroit were naturally 
revived. Want of men and supplies still made it impos- 
sible for Brodhead to execute it. So, much to his chagrin , 



1 Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 166. 

2 Pennsylvania Packet, April 16, 1782. 

3 Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 180. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 246. 

5 Ibid, p. 152. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 125 

Virginia undertook an expedition against that point, and 
the person to command it was George Rogers Clark. 
Though Brodhead obeyed orders, and supported Clark in 
his preparations, yet he suspicioned that Virginia's enter- 
prise was not intended so much for the relief of the fron- 
tiers as for the extension of her territorial claims.^ It 
looked suspicious even to others. ^ However, the fact 
that the people of Westmoreland joined in it most heartily ^ 
seems to indicate that they, at least, regarded Virginia's 
motive to be an honest one. Colonel Lochry, with a force 
of volunteers and a company of rangers, was to form a 
part of Clark's command ; L^ochry went down the river 
to join Clark, who had started some time before the West- 
morelanders. But, alas ! Lochry 's force was suddenly 
attacked, August 24th, by a body of Indians under Brandt 
and George Girty (brother of Simon) some distance below 
the mouth of the Miami. Every man of them — number- 
ing more than a hundred — was killed or captured. * Colo- 
nel Lochry was among the slain. This unfortunate affair, 
and the non-arrival of other reinforcements, made it nec- 
essary for Clark, who was at the falls of the Ohio, to 
abandon his enterprise. A detachment of artillery, which 
he had taken along from Fort Pitt, arrived there after 
many hardships, November 26th. 

Colonel Brodhead, before Clark's departure, had gone 
to Philadelphia on public business and turned his com- 
mand over to Colonel Gibson. At the suggestion of 
Clark, Gibson agreed to make an excursion against the 
Wyandots at Sandusky,^ to start in the beginning of 
September. When Brodhead returned, August nth, the 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, pp. 152 and 307. 

2 Ibid, p. 405. 

3 Ibid, pp. 247 and 306. 

4 Ibid, p. 358. 

5 Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 57. 



126 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

matter was at once laid before him. He agreed to it, 
and, claiming the right of command, called upon the 
county lieutenants for their assistance. But a clash now 
occurred between him and Colonel Gibson as to which 
was the commanding ofl&cer at Fort Pitt. Charges had 
been brought against Brodhead in April, that he with 
others was "concerned in buying manors and millseats 
and speculating on public money." ^ So when the San- 
dusky expedition was to be undertaken, Colonel Gibson 
and his friends claimed that Washington's instructions to 
Brodhead, on his return from Philadelphia, were such 
that he could not with propriety be in command until 
after the depositions relating to the charges had been 
taken. 2 But Brodhead stood his ground, and wrote to 
Washington that the expedition against the Sanduskies 
would proceed from Fort Mcintosh, September 4th and 
5th, and that he would command.^ Everybody that 
wanted to could go ; and the volunteers thus raised were 
allowed to select their own officers. Each man was to 
provide himself with a horse and thirty days' provisions. 
But now most alarming news came from Zeisberger, 
the Moravian Missionary, that a large number of Wyan- 
dots, Delawares, Munseys and Shawanese were approach- 
ing the settlements.* He cautioned Brodhead not to dis- 
close the source of the information, lest the savages would 
take revenge on the Moravian Indians and missionaries. 
The county lieutenants were at once notified and Forts 
Henry (Wheeling) and Mcintosh put in readiness for 
defense.^ The country took the alarm, and several hun- 
dred men were in arms. Nor was it long before the news 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 97. 

2 The Olden Time, vol. 2, p. 393. 

3 Ibid, p. 395. 

4 Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 239. 

5 The Olden Time, vol. 2, pp. 395-396. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 127 

from Zeisberger was confirmed by the appearance of the 
Indians at Fort Henry ; but on seeing the garrison pre- 
pared for them they disappeared. After killing and cap- 
turing several people and slaughtering all the cattle they 
could find, they withdrew across the Ohio. 

Disappointed in not surprising Fort Henry, the sav- 
ages now swore vengeance on the Moravian Indians. 
They had learned in some way, just as Zeisberger feared 
might be the case, that he had notified the commander at 
Fort Pitt of their approach. However, this betrayal was 
not alone responsible for what followed. DePeyster, at 
Detroit, had been made to believe by McKee, Elliott and 
Girty that the Moravian missionaries were sent by Con- 
gress as spies among the Indians. To give their reports 
greater weight, these Tories persuaded some Indian chiefs 
to join them in lodging complaints with the commandant 
against the missionaries . ^ In this way they hoped to secure 
DePeyster 's consent to murder the missionaries and their 
Indian converts. Not wishing to assume responsibility 
for such a crime, he sent McKee to the war council of 
the Six Nations, at Niagara, and got an order from them 
to the Chippewas and Ottawas to this purport: "We 
herewith make you a present of the Christian Indians on 
the Muskingum to make broth of them. ' ' ^ Xhe occasion 
had now arrived for this order to be put into execution. 
On returning to the Muskingum after their poor success 
at Fort Henry, the exasperated savages took the mis- 
sionaries prisoners, tied them and destroyed everything 
they had. The Moravian Indians were told they must 
move or they would all be cut off. There was nothing 
to do but to obey. There were three mission stations in 
what is now Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and their Indian 

1 Heckewelder's Narrative, pp. 229-230. 

2 Loskiel's Indian Missions, part 3rd, chapter 9, p. 150. 



128 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

inhabitants now all marched through the wilderness un- 
der the command of the "infamous rascal, Matthew 
Elliott." They carried their simple stock of household 
goods on their backs and drove the cattle and swine be- 
fore them. Arriving at the Sandusky, October nth, the 
Christian Indians were left there for the winter, while the 
missionaries were obliged to go with Elliott to Detroit 
and answer the charges that had been lodged against 
them ; but as the evidence was insufficient, they were 
allowed to return to Sandusky, when the cold of winter 
already made their journey one of great hardships. Their 
horses having been stolen before the start, DePeyster 
kindly furnished them others,^ a kindness of which his 
predecessor would scarcely have been capable. 

While the main body of the savages under Elliott 
were convoying the Moravians to Sandusky, a band of 
seven returned to Washington county and captured an 
old man of sixty. The settlers quickly gave them chase 
and killed all but one. There was a better organization 
for defense now in southwestern Pennsylvania. The 
dispute about the boundary line between Pennsylvania 
and Virginia had run on to the great disadvantage of this 
section until 1779. In that year it was agreed to extend 
Mason and Dixon's Line due west to the five-degree 
limit, as called for by the charter of Pennsylvania, and that 
a meridian line from the western extremity of Mason and 
Dixon's Line should be the western boundary of Pennsyl- 
vania. This agreement was not carried out until 1783, 
and consequently there was anarchy and confusion in that 
section, lasting until Washington county was erected by 
an Act of the Assembly, March 28th, 1781.^ It included 



1 Heckewelder's Narrative, p. 297. 

% Journal of the House of Represetttatives, vol. 1, p. 598. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 129 

all the territory in Pennsylvania south of the Ohio and 
west of the Monongahela. 

The Indian invasion into Wheeling and Monongahela 
valleys, together with the conflict of authority at Fort 
Pitt, caused a postponement of the expedition against 
Sandusky, and finally its abandonment.^ Washington 
now put an end to the dispute between Brodhead and 
Gibson by appointing the latter to the command "during 
the dependence of the trial." ^ Brodhead was mildly re- 
buked for misconstruing the Commander-in-Chief 's letter 
to him. He was told that there should have been no 
doubt as to the impropriety of holding the command 
while his trial was preparing and hearing.^ The change 
took place September 17th ; but Gibson was in command 
only until Brodhead's successor, General William Irvine, 
arrived early in November. The new commander spent 
the rest of the year in a reformation of military affairs at 
Fort Pitt, working at times with his own hands as an ex- 
ample for his officers. Nothing else of consequence is to 
be recorded about the Western frontiers for the year 1781 , 
except that there was a report sent to Fort Pitt, by Zeis- 
berger, to the effect that Guy Johnson with a large army 
was coming down from Presque Isle. This had some 
foundation. Sir Henry Clinton had proposed to General 
Haldimand, as a threat to Clark's expedition against De- 
troit, that a force of 2,000 men should come down from 
Niagara to Fort Pitt by way of Presque Isle and co- 
operate with an expedition from the Southern army up 
the rivers Potomac and Susquehanna. But Haldimand 
did not think well of Clinton 's proposition . ' ' Fort Pitt, ' ' 
said he, "is not to be taken by a coup de viain, nor will 



1 Washitigrtoti to Gibson, Washiogrton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 62. 

2 Spark's Letters to Washing-ton, vol. 3, p. 452. 

3 Washington to Brodhead, Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 62. 



130 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

the enemy suffer it to be surprised." ^ General Irvine 
was therefore not disturbed in his preparations for an 
active campaign in 1782. 

William Irvine was born in Ireland, 1741, and was 
like so many other officers from Pennsylvania, of Scotch- 
Irish descent. He studied medicine and was appointed 
surgeon of a British ship of war. In the French war his 
line of duty brought him to America, whither he returned 
after peace had been declared, settling at Carlisle. Irvine 
took an active part on the side of the Colonies at the 
opening of the Revolution. He raised the Sixth Penn- 
sylvania and was appointed to its command early in 1776. 
He marched at its head to Canada and was among the 
200 prisoners at Three Rivers. He was carried to Quebec 
and not exchanged until April, 1778, although paroled 
shortly after his capture. Having won distinction in the 
battle of Monmouth, he was made a brigadier General in 
1779. He was actively engaged in the army until 1781, 
when after doing duty in the recruiting service for awhile 
he was appointed to the command of the western depart- 
ment. He held this post to the close of the war. Penn- 
sylvania showed her gratitude for his services by giving 
him a tract of land on Lake Erie, known as "Irvine's 
Reserve." It was through his advice that Pennsylvania 
bought the "triangle" on Lake Erie from the United 
States. After the war he held a number of important 
trusts — on the Council of Censors, in the Congress of 
the Confederation, in the State Constitutional Convention 
of 1790, in the Congress under the Constitution, in the 
Whiskey Insurrection and in the Electoral College, etc. 
He died, 1804, in Philadelphia, having removed there 
from Carlisle. 2 



1 Vermont Historical Society, vol. 2, p. 342. 

2 Washing-ton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 65. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 131 

There was quite a decrease of Indian outrages in the 
Susquehanna and Delaware Valleys in the year 1781, 
The savages appeared early in the spring, but after har- 
vest there were but few of them seen ; ^ for they had re- 
ceived a signal blow in New York.^ A later incursion 
had been ordered, as appears from the following letter to 
Joseph Brandt, dated October 3rd, 1781 : 

** Dear Joseph : — If you have no other object of importance 
in view, I request that you will make a move upon Minisink 
and the East Branch of the Susquehanna as soon as possible."^ 

The ravages began in March and April.* In Northum- 
berland the enemy had made five different strokes from 
the 22nd of March till the 12th of April. A force of 
militia from the counties below was called out on a two 
months' tour, and sent up the North Branch. Their 
presence seems to have frightened the Indians, for Colonel 
Hunter discharged some of them in August, though he 
claimed that it was because of a lack of rations.^ There 
was the greatest distress in Northumberland at that time. 
Many of the rangers were so naked for want of clothing 
that they could not do duty. There was no surgeon in 
the county, within forty miles. ^ to attend either the sol- 
diers, if wounded, or the people, if taken sick. One 
offered himself from Lancaster county, but he was found 
lacking in character and ability.'^ General Potter ex- 
pressed the wish that the Assembly could make a visit 
with him, that they might be moved to extend relief. But 
relief was impossible from that quarter, especially when 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 392. 

2 Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 2, pp. 155-159. 

3 Haldimand, MSB., Vermont Hist. Society, vol. 2, p. 345. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, pp. 70, 106, 107; Miner's Hist, of Wyom- 
ing-, p. 292. 

5 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 364. 

6 Ibid, p. 208. 

7 Ibid, p. 238. 



132 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

it was expected that the British in New York would in- 
vade Pennsylvania after Washington had stolen that 
matchless march on Clinton — across New Jersey, through 
Pennsylvania and Maryland, and down into Virginia — 
there to fight the last battle of the Revolution. 

In Wyoming, the conditions were very like those of 
the North Branch . Occasional incursions of small bands 
occurred all summer, and several people were killed ; but 
the company of Continental troops now stationed there 
gave confidence. Scouting parties were sent out, going 
from fifty to eighty miles up the river. In September, a 
party of Indians attacked the Hanover settlement, and 
succeeded in carrying ofi" two boys in revenge for the death 
of an Indian, who had been shot by the father the year 
before. To kill an Indian on the frontier was always 
liable to be fraught with serious consequences. In this 
respect, again, the lot of a soldier on the frontier was far 
less desirable than that of a man in the regular army. 

Northampton was more scared than hurt in 1 78 1 . The 
Indians crossed the Delaware into New Jersey, and did 
some bloody work there. On their return they burned a 
house in Northampton county, and drove away a herd of 
cattle. This might not have alarmed the people much ; 
but, as the Indians hurried away, they lost a knapsack 
containing an order from Colonel Butler to Captain Brandt, 
by which it appeared that a heavy attack was intended to 
be made.^ The militia flew to arms as never before. 
Their methods of checking the Indians were specially 
recommended by President Reed to other counties ; and 
the Council gave twenty-five pounds of hard money to one 
party for their activity and bravery . ^ 

Though the war along the seaboard had practically 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 107. 
% Ibid, p. 238. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 133 

closed in 1781, the border war in Pennsylvania continued 
in all its fury on some parts of the frontiers. Early in 
January, 1782, General Irvine had gone to his home in 
Carlisle and to Philadelphia. Until his return, March 
25th, Colonel Gibson was in command at Fort Pitt. Dur- 
ing Irvine's absence, a most atrocious massacre was com- 
mitted by a body of two hundred Monongahela settlers, 
under David Williamson, colonel of a militia battalion ol 
Washington county. The Moravian missionaries had ob- 
tained permission from Detroit for the Christian Indians, 
confined at Sandusky, to return to the Muskingum to get 
some corn that had been left there. Now, it happened 
that in February some Indian atrocities were committed 
in Washington county.^ Coming so early, while the 
snow was still on the ground, these raids caused much 
surprise and consternation. The belief was prevalent 
that some ' * enemy Indians ' ' had occupied the vacant 
villages of the Moravian Indians.^ Upon reaching the 
Muskingum, however, Colonel Williamson's militia found 
there the Moravian Indians who had come from Sandusky 
to get corn. There were about 150 men, women and 
children, and they offered no resistance. The question 
arose what to do with them. Sundry articles were found 
among them that had been taken from people in Wash- 
ington county. They confessed that ten warriors had 
come with them from Sandusky, and had gone into the 
settlements, and that four of these were then present in 
the villages.^ The majority were no doubt friendly, for 
they offered to go to Pittsburg that their sufferings might 
end.* Colonel Williamson put it to a vote whether the 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 496. 

2 Washingfton-Irvine Correspondence p. 100 ; also, Wither's Border 
Warfare, p. 320. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 540. 

4 Wither's Border Warfare, p. 322. 



134 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

Indians should be spared or slain. Just how the vote re- 
sulted is in doubt ; ^ but there is no doubt as to the fate 
of the Indians. They were all killed except those in the 
upper village, the slain numbering upwards of ninety, 
most of whom were women and children . After pillaging 
the villages, the white demons burned every house within 
them. While preparations for death were going on, the 
Indians assembled for the last time in the worship of God, 
and many of them were tied while in the act of prayer. ^ 
There was a divided sentiment on the frontiers about this 
massacre at the time of its occurrence ; but an investiga- 
tion was impossible ; for, like school-boys, the militia 
would not testify against one another. Such was the end 
of the Christian Indians on the Muskingum. They fell 
a victim at the hands of the frontiersman, after he had 
experienced unspeakable horrors for eight long years. In 
1782, the " back inhabitants " could scarcely look upon 
an Indian any more as a human being. Nevertheless, 
the murder on the Muskingum was not justifiable. 

To make the punishment of the Indians more com- 
plete still, another voluntary expedition was now organ- 
ized to proceed against the Indians at Sandusky. This 
place was the rendezvous for the Indians of the Northwest 
— Shawanese, Mingoes, Monseys, Ottawas, Delawares 
and others — preparatory to their raids on the Western 
frontier. General Irvine gave his permission for the ex- 
pedition, on condition that any conquests the volunteers 
might make should be in behalf and for the United States.^ 
It was to be no expedition such as Virginia had sent out 
under Clark — with a double purpose, ostensibly to harass 
the enemy, but in reality to acquire territory. Each vol- 



1 Pennsvlvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 540. 

2 Heckewelder's Narrative, pp. 318-319. 

3 Washlng-toa-Irvine Correspondence, p. 113. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 135 

unteer furnished his own horse and gun and provisions 
for a month, on condition that he was afterwards exempt 
from two tours of military duty. In this way, an army 
of 500 was collected at Mingo Bottom, on the Ohio, be- 
low the present site of Steuben ville. By a vote. Colonel 
William Crawford was elected commander, the other can- 
didate having been Colonel Williamson, under whom the 
Moravian massacre occurred. William Crawford was 
born in Virginia. He learned the art of surveying under 
Washington, but when the French war broke out he for- 
sook the compass and became a soldier. At the close of 
Pontiac's war, he was a captain. Having been across 
the mountains as a soldier, he settled there afterwards, 
and located in what is now Fayette county as a farmer, 
surveyor and Indian trader. He served as justice of the 
peace in old Bedford county, and in Westmoreland upon 
its organization ; but he was prominent in Lord Dun- 
more 's war, and thus became committed to serve the in- 
terests of Virginia in the long territorial dispute. He 
entered the Revolutionary service as lieutenant colonel of 
a Virginia regiment, and served at first on the frontier, 
then with Washington at Brandy wine and Germantown. 
When General Hand was assigned to the Western De- 
partment, Colonel Crawford was ordered to Fort Pitt, 
where he did valiant and useful service under the various 
commanders. 

Crawford's expedition started May 25th, and pursued 
"Williamson's trail" to the Muskingum, where the 
horses were fed with the corn of the Moravian Indians. 
Here two stray Indians were recklessly fired upon by the 
volunteers, and Colonel Crawford realized that the troops 
under him were hard to command. They were ten days 
on the march to Sandusky, while it might have been per- 



136 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

formed in seven. General Irvine had advised them to 
attack the town in the night, but, instead, they halted 
within ten miles of the enemy, and resumed the march at 
the late hour of seven in the morning.^ The enemy, 
numbering about 200 Indians and 100 British rangers, 
were encountered at 4 p. m. Both parties fought hard for 
a piece of woods, but the enemy gave way at sunset. The 
next day, the British and Indians being heavily reinforced 
and the Americans greatly burdened with their sick and 
wounded, Colonel Crawford ordered a retreat, but great 
confusion attended it. Quite a number, therefore, were 
missing after the detached bodies of the troops had been 
collected again. Among the missing ones was Colonel 
Crawford. 2 They had been captured about thirty miles 
from the scene of the battle ; and five days afterwards 
they were all but one cruelly put to death by the Dela- 
ware Indians. The one that escaped was a Doctor 
Knight, who arrived at Fort Pitt in the course of twenty - 
one days. He reported ^ that Colonel Crawford was first 
tied to a long post, with room to walk around it ; his ears 
were cut off, and squibs of powder blown into different 
parts of his body. Then the squaws took hickory brands 
and touched such parts of his body as would be most 
tender. They took the scalp and slapped it in the face 
of Doctor Knight. Thus the victim was tortured one 
whole hour, when Doctor Knight was removed from the 
horrible scene. Just as the Doctor was leaving, Colonel 
Crawford sank down on his knees exhausted ; but a squaw 
threw a shovelful of hot coals on him to put him again 
in motion. The colonel made no outcry, except to beg 



1 Washincton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 122. 

2 Pennsylvania Packet, July 4th, 1782; Pennsylvania Gazette, July 11th, 
1782. 

3 Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, July 23, 1782; also, In- 
cidents of Border I(ife, pp. 131-139. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 137 

Simon Girty, whom he had formerly known at Pittsburg, 
to shoot him. But his appeal was met with a satanic 
smile. The next day Doctor Knight passed the place 
under his Indian guard and saw the bones of his colonel 
in the ashes. Doctor Knight was to be burned, too, but 
he managed to escape before he was tied to the stake. 
The British accounts, though not going into the details, 
all agreed in pronouncing the death ol Colonel Crawford 
as "cruel," as a " torture," " abhorrent," etc., and they 
united in saying that it was in revenge for the murder of 
the Moravian Indians.^ 

This account of Dr. Knight struck the people of 
Western Pennsylvania with a strange mixture of fear and 
resentment and they at once began to prepare for another 
expedition.^ Washington, however, cautioned General 
Irvine against rashness, for he thought such treatment as 
Crawford had received had to be expected when it was 
remembered how the Moravian Indians fared. ^ But be- 
fore the settlers could retaliate, the Indians were on the 
frontier in Westmoreland county. The people of that 
section had kept together at various points of safety dur- 
ing the spring and summer and exercised the strictest 
watch. The militia deserted from the posts because they 
had not been paid and were in rags. The whole country 
north of the Forbes' Road was well-nigh deserted. Such 
was the condition of affairs when Hannastown was at- 
tacked on Saturday, July 13th. This town had been the 
county seat of Westmoreland since its organization in 
1773. It consisted of about thirty houses built of logs. 
Its courthouse and jail, of like construction, had both 
witnessed many an exciting scene in the days of Connelly 

1 Washinffton-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 372-374; alsoHaldiraandMSS., 
Vermont Historical Society, vol. 2, pp. 290-363. 

2 Spark's Letters to Washing-ton, vol.3, p. 524. 

3 Washing-ton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 132. 



138 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

and through the subsequent years of territorial disputes. 
On the 13th of July a number of the town folk had gone 
to O 'Conner's fields, a mile and a half north of the village, 
to cut the harvest of Michael Huffnagle. Suddenly a 
number of Indians were seen approaching the fields. 
The reapers all ran for the town . Fathers called for their 
wives and children and the children for their parents, all 
rushing towards the fort. Even the criminals of the jail 
were allowed to seek the shelter of the stockade. Five 
men had volunteered to go to the fields and reconnoitre. 
One was on horseback and got there first. When he saw 
the savages mustered in force, he returned and told those 
on foot to flee to the forts for their lives. The Indians 
were exasperated when they came to Hannastown and 
saw that the people had all gone into the fort. So they 
applied the torch and every house but two was laid in 
ashes. While the flames were still adding fury to the 
vengeance of the savages, a band of the latter set out for 
Miller's Fort where a wedding on the day before had 
brought a number of guests together from a distance, to 
be added to the number of those who dwelt in the cabins 
of the fort. Some were in the fields, others in the fort 
and still others in the house where the wedding had been 
held. The savages came upon the place so suddenly that 
most of its dwellers and sojourners were taken prisoners, 
and a few of them killed ; while the fort and the buildings 
around it shared the fate of Hannastown . 

In the evening the marauders all assembled near 
Hannastown, regaling themselves with their booty. 
About thirty farmers of the surrounding country managed 
to get into the fort and by a trick that was common de- 
ceived the savages as to the numerical strength of the 
garrison. They marched and countermarched on the 
bridge across the ditch around the fort to the music of 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 139 

the fife and drum. The sounds carried terror to the sav- 
age breast in the silence of the night, and towards morn- 
ing about 300 Indians and 60 Tories marched off toward 
the Kittanning. The prisoners were surrendered to the 
English in Canada, whence most of them returned after 
the cruel war on the frontier had ceased — a day which 
happily then was not far distant. Hannastown was never 
rebuilt and the plow has been going over the place for a 
century.^ 

In September the Council and Assembly proposed to 
Washington to send out two expeditions from Pennsyl- 
vania — one from Fort Pitt and one from Northumberland 
county ; ^ but Washington soon after received informa- 
tion that the British had called in all their Indian parties 
and so the two-fold project was abandoned.^ Irvine, 
however, would have marched from Fort Pitt in Septem- 
ber had he not been disappointed in raising a sufl&cient 
force. The Indians were still murdering in the neigh- 
borhood of Fort Pitt and he was also anxious to draw off 
the Delawares and Wyandots to prevent them from join- 
ing the Shawanese whom General Clark intended to attack 
at the same time.* But General Clark destroyed the 
towns of the Shawanese on the Miami, without any assist- 
ance, early in November,^ In doing this after the British 
had called in their light troops and Indians he greatly 
added to the hatred in which he was held by the British 
and Indians.^ 

The Northumberland frontiersmen had the opportunity 
early in February, 1782, to attend court in Sunbury, and 
thus in a representative way, to discuss afiairs in their 

1 Frontier Forts, vol. 2, pp. 300-307. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 630. 

3 Ibid, pp. 640-648. 

4 Washing-ton-Irvine Correspondence, p. 135. 

5 Roosevelt's Winning of the West, vol. 2, p. 209. 

6 Haldimand MSS., Vermont Historical Society, vol. 2, p. 362. 



140 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

county. They seem to have been of one mind as to what 
to do, which was to move off the frontiers, or at least to 
put their families out of danger. They had for three 
years been visited in the early spring by the Indians, and 
they expected the hostile visits as usual. ^ A company 
of militia was accordingly stationed at Fort Muncy by the 
Kxecutive Council. Nor did they arrive too soon, for the 
enemy appeared on the I^ycoming about the middle of 
April. 2 Fort Muncy was rebuilt and tradition says some 
Hessian prisoners were employed on the work. ^ Ranging 
parties were constantly out looking for Indians ; and it 
was while on this kind of duty that Moses Van Campen 
was captured a second time. (See page 80). On the 6th 
of May a party of rangers met a number of Indians not 
far from the present site of Mifflinburg, and the engage- 
ment resulted in the loss of two men killed. In August 
a large body, numbering some sixty or seventy, appeared 
a few miles above Sunbury and murdered a whole family. 
It was these repeated attacks that led the Council and 
Assembly to propose to Washington an expedition from 
Northumberland,* but which was abandoned when the 
Commander-in-Chief learned that the British light troops 
and Indians had been called in. It seems to have been a 
mistake not to send a force up the Susquehanna into the 
Indian country, for in October the outrages became more 
serious again. The people now lost all confidence in the 
British assurances that no more incursions should be 
made on the frontiers, and they would not return to their 
homes until winter had set in.^ 

The Indians were pacifically disposed towards Wyom- 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 503. 

2 Ibid, p. 528. 

3 McGinnis' History of the West Branch, p. 637. 

4 Pennsylvania Archives, vol, 9, p. 630. 

5 Ibid, p. 657. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 141 

ing and Northampton in the year 1782. In October, 
therefore, the question of withdrawing the Continental 
garrison from Wyoming came up in Congress. As it was 
left to the discretion of the Commander-in-chief,^ the 
Executive Council urged Washington not to withdraw it, 
for two reasons ; first, the pacific disposition of the In- 
dians ought not to be relied on to the extent of withdraw- 
ing the garrison ; secondly, should the assurances of the 
present amicable temper be fully confirmed, there was 
much reason to fear that the old contest between Penn- 
sylvania and Connecticut would immediately be renewed. 
The Council was not willing that any risk of disturbing 
the peace and tranquillity of Wyoming should be taken. 
Pennsylvania's interests were safest as long as a Conti- 
nental garrison was stationed in the disputed territory. ^ 
The settlement of this dispute had already been under 
way for a year. Soon after Cornwallis' surrender, the 
Executive Council had presented a petition to Congress, 
praying for an adjustment of the matter.^ Connecticut 
promptly met the overtures ; and on August 12th, 1782, 
the delegates of the two States in Congress announced 
that they had agreed on a number of gentlemen to con- 
stitute a court.* This court met at Trenton in Novem- 
ber, and, after sitting forty-one days, announced a decision 
in favor of Pennsylvania. December 30th. When the 
Continental troops were withdrawn in February follow- 
ing, '' two companies of rangers from Northampton county 
were stationed at Wyoming to insure the continued safety 
of the settlements against Indian incursions.^ 



1 Journals of Congress, vol. 7, p. 499. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 653. 

3 Journals of Congress, vol. 7, p. 219. 

4 Ibid, p. 435. 

5 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 9, p. 755. 

6 Ibid, p. 761. 



142 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

Nor was this precaution unnecessary, for, before the 
arrival of the rangers, two men had been either killed or 
captured. Along the whole frontier, from Northampton 
to Washington county, the savages renewed hostilities in 
the spring of 1783. It was a grievous disappointment to 
the settlers. They were more discouraged than they had 
ever been before. Their sanguine hopes of peace gave 
way to despair. ^ Their brethren in the country ' ' below ' ' 
had already enjoyed peace since the surrender of Corn- 
wallis, and the soldiers of the Continental army were rest- 
ing in camp, soon to return to their homes. These early 
incursions were made in retaliation of Clark's destruction 
of the Shawanese towns on the Miami. (See p. 139). The 
' ' Six Nations ' ' had received word from their brothers of 
that act "by the perfidious, cruel rebels," " at a time 
when they and we were forbade to go to war, and directed 
to cease hostilities." They therefore notified the British 
that they would remain idle no longer and see their breth- 
ren and people destroyed. They even asked General 
Haldimand's assistance in sharpening their axes. He 
employed every argument to dissuade the Six Nations 
from their purpose ; but he could not do it. He saw 
some justice, too, in their request, and so he resolved to 
assist them by every means in his power. He wrote this 
resolve, and the reasons for it, in an open letter, with the 
request that, in case the messenger fell into the enemy's 
hands, it be delivered to General Washington, as it con- 
cerned the American's happiness more than the King's 
service. 2 It seems that Virginia, to some extent at least, 
established her claims to the country north of the Ohio at 
the cost of the blood of Pennsylvania frontiersmen. 

The depredations committed in accordance with the 

1 Pennsylvania Archives, toI. 10, p. 22. 

2 Haldimand MSS., Vt. Hist. Society, vol. 2, pp. 362-363. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 143 

resolves of the Six Nations and the British, led Congress, 
on the first of May, to pass a resolution that the Indians 
be informed of the cessation of hostilities and the prelimi- 
nary articles of peace, and that the United States would 
enter into a treaty with them, too. This communication 
was to be coupled with a warning, that if they did not 
cease hostilities Congress would take decided measures 
to compel them thereto.^ Ephraim Douglas, an officer of 
the Eighth Pennsylvania, and the first clerk of the courts 
of Fayette county, was delegated to carry this message to 
the Indians.^ Before leaving Fort Pitt, he suggested to 
General Irvine to dispatch a messenger to General Clark, 
in order to restrain him from any further attacks on the 
Indians until the proposals of Congress had been made to 
them. On arriving at Detroit, Douglas was well received 
by DePeyster and the Indians ; and he at once wrote back 
to Fort Pitt, announcing the fact of his friendly reception, 
in order that no unfriendly act should be committed at 
home against any Indians who might chance to visit the 
frontiers now that they knew the Americans wanted 
peace. The message of Congress he withheld from the 
Indians at Detroit by request of DePeyster. The British 
commandant thought it incompatible with his duty to 
suffer the message of the United States to be delivered 
before he was possessed of such authenticated accounts of 
the treaty with England as would justify his concurrence 
with Douglas. The Indians, however, agreed to cease 
further hostilities, provided the inhabitants of the United 
States showed the same disposition to avoid every cause 
of just complaint, especially to confine themselves to their 
own side of the Ohio.^ Douglas then proceeded to Niagara, 



1 Journals of Congress, vol. 8, p. 255. 

2 Washing-ton-Irvine Correspondence, Appendix M, p. 413. 

3 Ibid, p. 415. 



144 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

hoping that the commandant of that post might have more 
authority to act with him . But he was again disappointed . 
He was not allowed to assemble the Indians and make 
known his mission. The British took this stand in order 
to protect the Indians in the possession of their lands. ^ 

Upon this point there was much anxiety among the 
Indians at this time. Captain Brandt came to see Douglas 
at Niagara and insisted that they must have their lands 
secured before they would enter into any further or other 
treaty, and the British commandant suggested that Con- 
gress send some person among them to give assurance 
upon this point. 2 Nor was this anxiety without good 
reason. Companies were being formed for purchasing 
large tracts of lands, which had been appropriated by 
Pennsylvania and Virginia for the redemption of officers' 
and soldiers' certificates. In Pennsylvania, these lands 
lay north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny, but the 
Indian titles to them were not yet extinguished.^ It was 
an open secret that the land companies conspired with 
the surveyors to make surveys in the Indian country. 
General Irvine therefore issued an order forbidding 
either men or women from crossing the Allegheny or Ohio 
anywhere between Kittanning and Fort Mcintosh with- 
out a permit.* 

To avoid giving offence to the Indians by possible en- 
croachments of these land companies, the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania in September asked Congress for permission 
to buy the lands north and west of the Ohio and Alle- 
gheny, but the request was refused.^ However, meas- 
ures were then taken under deliberation in Congress for 



1 Washing'ton-Irvine Correspondence, Appendix M, p. 416. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 10, pp. 83-90. 

3 Journal of the House of Representatives, March 7, 1780. 

4 Washing-ton-Irvine Correspondence, Appendix G, p. 261. 

5 Journals of Congress, vol. 10, pp. 371-377. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 145 

a treaty of peace with the Indians. These measures were 
adopted, October 15th, and delegates from Pennsylvania 
were permitted to attend the conference for the purpose 
of making the State's intended purchase.^ But repeated 
attacks were made on the Western frontier in the spring 
of 1784, before the commissioners had even fixed upon a 
time and a place for holding the treaty. The people 
were very uneasy that nothing had been done.^ Besides 
the dangers from incursions, the treaty was becoming 
urgent to satisfy the soldiers and others who wanted the 
lands of the Indians. The Continental commissioners 
were to meet in New York to organize, but failed to get 
together. The delay was so hazardous to Pennsylvania 
that its commissioners actually talked of acting inde- 
pendently of the United States at Tioga or Wyalusing. 
When in August the Continental commissioners still 
failed to act, the General Assembly passed a resolution 
that the commissioners on the part of the State should 
meet the Indians who claimed the unpurchased territory 
within its limits.^ It appears that when the original 
commissioners delayed so much, Congress in March, 
1784, appointed others and instructed them to hasten their 
departure.* Later another member was added and two 
other changes were again made, making the commission 
to consist finally of George Rogers Clarke, Oliver Wal- 
cott, Arthur Lee, Richard Butler, Benjamin Lincoln and 
Philip Schuyler. The sum of 15,000 dollars was appro- 
priated for the purchase of goods to be used in negotiat- 
ing with the Indians.^ 

The month of October was finally selected as the time 



1 Journals of Congress, vol. 10, pp. 439-468. 

2 Penngylvania Archives, vol. 10, pp. 264 and 266. 

3 Minutes of the Assembly, August 25th, 1784. 

4 Journals of Congress, vol. 11, p. 51. 

5 Ibid, p. 63. 



146 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

for holding the treaty, and Fort Stanwix as the place. 
The Continental commissioners, of whom only three were 
present at the sessions — Walcott, Butler and Lee — arrived 
on the 2nd of the month, and the Pennsylvania commis- 
sioners a day or so later. The business commenced on 
the 3rd and continued until the 23rd. New York had 
already done what Pennsylvania threatened to do — held 
a separate treaty with the Six Nations. In this act, we 
see thus early State sovereignty cropping out. It gave 
Washington and others great concern. He viewed with 
fearful apprehension the rage for speculation in Indian 
lands, and the disposition of the States to get as much of 
them as possible. " Men in these times," said he, " talk 
with as much facility of 50,000, 100,000 and 500,000 acres 
as a gentleman formerly would do of 1,000." Again, 
• ' Individual States opposing the measures of the United 
States, encroaching upon the territory of each other, and 
setting up old and obsolete claims, is verifying the pre- 
dictions of our enemies, and is truly unfortunate. " ^ New 
York, very soon after passing into the hands of the Eng- 
lish, had secured from the Six Nations the right of pro- 
tecting them and their lands, leaving to them a kind of 
qualified sovereignty.^ But after 1754, when Sir William 
Johnson became the British agent in America for Indian 
affairs, this right of sovereignty over the Six Nations, to- 
gether with whatever similar powers other colonies had 
in Indian affairs, passed into the hands of the mother 
country. But aside from this fact, Congress had organ- 
ized an Indian department, and the treaties of the Revo- 
lutionary period were made by authority of Congress. 
Furthermore, by the treaty of 1783, the sovereignty of all 
the Indian countries within the prescribed limits granted 

1 Ford's Writings of Washing-ton, vol. 10, pp. 417-425. 
% Kent's Commentaries, vol. 3, p. 392. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 147 

to the United States by Great Britain, became vested in 
the former to the same extent as it had been exercised by 
the latter. 1 

Had New York and other States prevailed, the Indians 
would have been expelled at once, and by force, if neces- 
sary, from all lands not ceded to them previous to the war. 
The result of this would have been another war.^ Such 
was Washington's view, and the feeling of some of the 
Indians at Fort Stanwix proved that his view was correct. 
Red Jacket was opposed to the burial of the hatchet, even 
under the milder policy of Congress, as laid down at the 
treaty. He spoke with great eloquence in favor of the 
continuance of the war by the Indians on their own ac- 
count."^ 

Another incident came up at Fort Stanwix that tested 
the sovereignty of the United States as against the State 
of New York. The latter had sent an agent there to 
represent her interests, instructing him to oppose and 
frustrate any of the proceedings of the commissioners 
which might eventually affect the interests of New York.* 
One of the measures he took to obstruct the work of the 
commission was to sell liquor to the Indians. The com- 
missioners had orders not to allow anything of the kind 
to be sold while the treaty was in progress. So they com- 
manded the United States officer in charge to deposit all 
spirituous liquors in the houses of sutlers and venders 
within a mile of the place in the public store, not except- 
ing New York's. The commissioners even forbade the 
latter to be admitted in or near the place of holding the 
council, or to listen or observe what was going on inside.^ 



1 Kent's Commentaries, vol. 1, p. 257. 

2 Ford's Writingrs of Washington, vol. 10, p. 306. 

3 Stone's Life of Brandt, vol. 2, p. 243. 

4 The Olden Time, vol. 2, p. 412. 

5 Ibid, p. 450. 



148 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

The incidental matters disposed of, the commission 
proceeded to its work. One of the first things done was 
to allow General Lafayette to speak to the Indians. He 
was present, and wanted to leave soon.^ The Marquis 
praised those who had adhered to the Americans in the 
war, and blamed those who had been their enemies. He 
advised them all most earnestly and eloquently to listen 
to the voice of the Americans. Their answer was full of 
the spirit of peace. The Mohawks, in particular, declared 
their repentance for the error they had committed. Yet, 
in the course of the council, it appeared that the Six Na- 
tions were opposed to a separate negotiation with the 
United States. They wanted no treaty made until all the 
Western Indians, who were not present, could be con- 
sulted. But the commissioners would listen to no delay. ^ 
It was largely through the efforts of the Cornplanter that 
the Six Nations were persuaded to relinquish a portion 
of their territory by compromise, rather than lose the 
whole by force. He saw the force of the instructions of 
Congress, namely, that, as the King of Great Britain had 
made no mention of the Indians in the treaty of peace with 
the Americans, he had left them to seek peace with the 
United States upon such terms as the latter should think 
just and reasonable.^ So when the following articles of 
peace were proposed, October 20th, the Indians signed 
the treaty two days later : 

1. Six hostag-es to be delivered and kept by the United States 
till all prisoners, white and black, taken by the four nations at 
war with America, had been restored. 

2. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras to keep the lands they had. 

3. A line to be drawn from I^ake Ontario south, about four 
miles east of the Niagara river, to the northern boundary of 



1 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 10, p. 346. 

2 The Olden Time, vol. 2, p. 428. 

3 Ibid, p. 414. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 149 

Pennsylvania, thence west to the western boundary of Penn- 
sylvania, and thence south to the Ohio river. The lands west 
of this line were to be ceded to the United States ; while the 
lands then held by them east of the line were to be secured to 
them in peaceful possession. 

4. Upon the sig-ning of the articles, the United States to order 
goods to be delivered for the use and comfort of the Six Nations. 

Then followed some wholesome advice, and three days 
later the council adjourned. The results of the treaty 
were highly unsatisfactory to the Six Nations, especially 
to Brandt, who was not present. Captain Aaron Hill, a 
subordinate chief of the Mohawks, had been detained as 
one of the hostages, and this added to Brandt's dissatis- 
faction. He had gone to Quebec to complete his business 
with Sir Frederick Haldimand, and then to embark for 
England But he immediately gave up the trip abroad 
for that season. He went back to his own people to look 
after their interests. He formed a plan, like that of Pon- 
tiac twenty years before — of forming a great confederacy 
of the Northwestern Indian nations. He visited the 
country of the upper lakes, and held a number of coun- 
cils. Having done this, he embarked for England, where 
it was conjectured he presented matters of great import- 
ance ; for that country acknowledged that it owed much 
to the services of Colonel Brandt during the war in 
America.^ 

By the cession made by the Six Nations, their title to 
the lands across the Allegheny River was extinguished. 
The Pennsylvania commissioners delivered a great quan- 
tity of goods to them in consideration of the deed received, 
amounting to about $25,000, ^ But as the Delawares and 
Wyandots were not at Fort Stanwix, another treaty was 
held at Fort Mcintosh in January, 1785. There the Con- 



1 Stone's lyife of Brandt, vol. 2, p. 249. 

2 Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 10, p. 318. 



150 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 

tinental commissioners secured a cession of the country 
on the Scioto, Miami and Muskingum from the Wyan- 
dots, Chippewas, Delawares and Ottawas.^ However, 
the towns of Guadenhutten, Schonbrun and Salem were 
afterwards reserved for the sole use of the survivors of the 
Christian Delawares.^ The treaty by the Pennsylvania 
commissioners with the Delawares and Wyandots was for 
the same lands in the same words and with the same 
boundaries as that which they made at Fort Stanwix with 
the Six Nations . ^ Thus , after a period of about 1 02 years , 
all the Indian right of soil within the charter bounds of 
Pennsylvania was extinguished. It may be added, that 
in 1788 Pennsylvania paid 1,200 pounds for the Indian 
right in the lands of the triangle on Lake Erie, and that 
the next year a further grant was added for the same 
purpose.* 

The tract of land acquired by Pennsylvania at Fort 
Stanwix and Fort Mcintosh was known as the ** Indian 
country" since 1768. Now it was thrown open for set- 
tlement. But the act of the Cornplanter at Fort Stanwix 
was a sore subject to many of the Indians of the Six 
Nations. After Brandt had made his visit to the western 
nations, the Senecas and other tribes in the "Indian 
country" of Pennsylvania became quite unfriendly. 
Kven so late as 1789, the Indians came within two miles 
of Pittsburg and killed two men who had gone out to 
fish.^ In 1793, after the formation of the Pennsylvania 
Population Company for encouraging settlements in the 
"Indian country," the town of Presque Isle was planned 
for this purpose "and to afford additional security to the 



1 Wither's Chronicles, p. 366. 

2 Journals of Congress, vol. 10, p. 123. 

3 Minutes of the Assembly, Appendix, February-April, 1785. 

4 Smith's Laws, vol. 2, pp. 123-124. 

5 Pittsburgh Gazette, July 2iid. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania, 151 

frontiers thereof. " ^ As soon as possible it was put on 
a war footing and a garrison stationed there. Forts 
LeBoeuf, Machault, Venango and Franklin were all re- 
paired and garrisoned while the Indian war in Ohio was 
in progress. Fourteen blockhouses in Westmoreland, 
Armstrong, Allegheny, Indiana and Crawford counties 
were erected as a protection against Indian attacks from 
the year 1783- 1795, the year in which Wayne ended the 
war in Ohio and made the treaty of Fort Greenville, ^ 
The obstinacy of the Indians in this region was so great 
that even the people of Washington county were appre- 
hensive of danger and stood ready for an attack.^ This 
discontent in the "Indian country" was not alone due to 
dissatisfaction with the purchase at Fort Stanwix, nor 
with the purchase of the triangle. The British, who still 
occupied the frontier posts at Niagara, Detroit, etc., in- 
trigued with the Six Nations. It was the opinion of 
military men on the frontiers at that time, that peace or 
war with the Indians depended on being at peace or war 
with the English.^ There was much truth in this, for it 
was not until after the treaty of Ghent that England once 
and for all abandoned her demands for an Indian boun- 
dary line, for a strip of neutral Indian territory, for mili- 
tary and naval supremacy on the lakes and for the inclu- 
sion of the Indians as parties to treaties between her and 
the United States. '^ 

The greatest legacy of the ten years of border warfare 
in Pennsylvania during the Revolution, was its share in 
the achievement of independence. The frontiersman by 
his heroic and resolute resistance to the enemy in the rear, 



1 Frontier Forts, vol. 2, p. 555. 

2 Frontier Forts, pp. 537-627. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, vol. 6, p. 762. 

4 Ibid, p. 723. 

5McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., vol. 4, p. 269. 



152 Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 

helped to make it possible for the Continental army to 
bring the war for independence to a successful issue on 
the front. The British at critical moments, with their 
savage allies, repeatedly tried to break through the moun- 
tains or draw off the strength of Washington's army be- 
yond them ; but they never succeeded. 

Next in importance was the territory acquired from 
the Indians. Pennsylvania's share was erected into eight 
counties in 1800. The act of the Legislature ^ was 
known as the "great county act, " for by it were organized 
Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango 
and Armstrong counties. The money paid for all this 
land was a mere trifle ; but the blood shed for it and the 
hardships endured cannot be over-estimated. The land 
has proven to be a source of immense wealth, not alone 
to Pennsylvania, but to other States The oil that was 
hidden under the ground has made millionaires and mil- 
lionaires, and has given rise to the most gigantic and 
powerful corporation in the world. 

The war on the frontiers of Pennsylvania was also one 
of the beginnings of "the winning of the West." 
Wayne's victory at Maumee, which put the final seal on 
the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, opened to settlement the 
country from Erie westward and southwestward along 
the "Wilderness Road."^ Two streams of population 
converged at Erie — one from Pennsylvania, chiefly from 
Dauphin county ; the other from Connecticut and New 
York. The Pennsylvania stream gained great accessions 
in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. These settlers 
had to get their lands from companies organized for 
speculation. The Pennsylvania Company, devised by 



1 Bioren's Laws, vol. 6, pp. 115-124. 

2 See Map of the United States, Thorpe's Constitutional History of the 
American People, vol, 1, opposite p. 158. 



Border Warfare in Pennsylvania. 153 

Aaron Burr and others, received a charter from the Legis- 
lature in 1793 and purchased land-warrants covering 
nearly the entire triangle.^ It offered 120 acres to each 
of the twenty families that should first settle "on Lake 
Erie territory." The Harrisburg and Presque Isle Com- 
pany, originated at Harrisburg, was formed in 1796. 
The proceeds of its stock were to be expended in buying 
lots in the towns of Erie, Waterford, Franklin and others, 
and lands in the State of Pennsylvania, north and west of 
the Ohio and Allegheny rivers. Other companies had 
purchased land-warrants and their claims often conflicted. 
The Holland Land Company, a New York concern, 
claimed all of the triangle. Some settlers held from one 
company, some from another and many had no title at 
all. The result was a crop of law suits and bankruptcies. 
But the immigrants continued to come in, some to remain 
and others to pass on to the Ohio country. So thriving 
was the immigrant business, that many farm houses were 
converted into temporary inns.^ Life, there, indeed was 
primitive. All the possessions that the immigrant had 
he carried in an ox-cart, and he began his career on the 
Lake Shore in a log cabin, with a bark roof and a blanket 
door. But there was a promise in the future. Grain 
and stock kept him alive ; wool and flax kept him in 
clothes, and pearlash paid for his land. Such was the 
beginning of the "winning of the West," in the great 
Northwest ; and it was made possible by the treaties of 
Forts Stanwix, Mcintosh and Greenville. 



1 See Map of the United States, Thorpe's Constitutional History of the 
American People, vol. 1, p. 212. 

2 Thorpe's Constitutional History of the American People, vol. 1, pp. 

217-226. 



5-/ 



— OF— 

WACI-HNGTON 



Border Warfare 
In Pennsylvania 



DUUING THE 
REVOLUTION 



L. S. SniMMELL. Ph. D 



^^^^ 




LEJete 



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